PPerhaps the only thing more difficult than interviewing workers in China about human rights is doing the same in North Korea.
Still, it seemed worth a try. Because it has the potential to shed new light on the experiences of thousands of relatively invisible people who supply much of the seafood consumed in the United States and Europe. What we discovered was horrifying. Women detained in Chinese processing factories sent by the North Korean government are subjected to violence, wage theft, and rampant sexual abuse. And much of the seafood produced at these factories is supplied to major U.S. companies, subject to UN sanctions and a “rebuttable law” that classifies North Korean labor as forced labor unless proven otherwise. This violates the Countering Adversaries Act of the United States Sanctions Act of 2017, which provides for the presumption that , and impose fines on companies that import goods tied to these workers.
According to an investigation by the Outlaw Ocean Project, more than 1,000 North Korean workers have been employed in 15 seafood processing plants since 2017. Ten of these factories shipped more than 120,000 tons of seafood to more countries during the same period. More than 70 U.S. importers supplying grocery stores such as Walmart, Giant, ShopRite, and Weee! This seafood is sold to importers who supply product to restaurant chains such as McDonald’s and Cisco’s (approximately 500,000 restaurants, as well as U.S. public schools, military bases, and the U.S. Congress) and to U.S. cafeterias. It was also passed on to an importer. EU Parliament.
Such revelations were difficult to achieve because Western journalists are restricted within China and are also barred from entering North Korea, where citizens are prohibited from speaking freely with reporters.
In late 2023, I set out to find a way around these obstacles. I hired a team of researchers in South Korea to help a new organization report on North Korea. Investigators have contacts across borders and hire them to smuggle information out of the country. Investigators and their associates worked to compile a list of 20 North Koreans sent to China, most of whom have since returned. The workers and managers were of a wide age range, came from different regions of the country, and worked in six different factories in China. Investigator contacts often met with workers secretly in fields or on the streets, where it was difficult for security guards to overhear conversations.
Workers were told their responses would be shared publicly by US media. They faced legitimate risks. Experts say they could be executed if caught. But they agreed to dialogue because they want the world to know what is happening to them in China. North Korean officials transcribed the responses by hand and used an encrypted communication channel to send a photo of the questionnaire to researchers, who sent it to me. These layers of protection make it impossible to fully verify what is said. However, the responses were reviewed by experts to ensure they were consistent with what is known about the program and with other interviews with defectors.
Investigators recently checked on the interviewers and interviewees, and all were found safe.