NKHIDDENGULAG
  • Home
  • About the Camps
    • Introduction
    • Kwan-li-so vs. Kyo-hwa-so
    • Locations
    • HRNK Reports
    • UN Commission of Inquiry
    • Transitional Justice
  • Blog
  • Victims
    • Prisoners
    • Women
    • Disappeared Persons
  • HRNK
    • About us
    • HRNK Insider
  • Donate

NK HIdden Gulag Blog

Young Professionals Writing Program (YPWP)

The Ethical and Strategic Problem of North Korean Workers Abroad

7/7/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture

​By Hayley Noah, HRNK Research Intern
Edited by Rosa Park, HRNK Director of Programs and Editor, and Benjamin Fu, HRNK Research Intern

July 7, 2020

North Korea is known to send workers abroad to earn foreign currency for the regime, with China and Russia the top two destinations for North Korean laborers. North Korea has a long history of sending workers abroad. For example, a high-level meeting between Russia and North Korea in 1950 suggests that North Korea had been supplying Russia with laborers since at least 1950.[1] More recently, in 2017, North Korea and Russia signed a new labor immigration accord to increase the flow of North Korean workers to Russia.[2] In terms of international security, this activity poses a serious risk, as, according to United Nations Security Resolution 2397, North Korean workers abroad work “for the purpose of generating foreign export earnings that [North Korea] uses to support its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”[3] UN Security Council Resolution 2397 ordered the repatriation of North Korean workers abroad no later than December 22, 2019 in order to limit the Kim regime’s foreign currency funds.[4]

​In September 2019, North Korea released an order to repatriate all North Korean workers from China by December 21, one day ahead of the UN deadline.[5] While some observers speculated that North Korea was cooperating in order to take pressure off of China, others were skeptical, arguing that the move was likely just for show.[6] The skeptics appear to have been right. As of January 2020, it was estimated that over 100,000 North Koreans still work abroad, primarily in China and Russia.[7] One reason for this supposed transgression relates to a loophole involving visas. The UN resolution prohibits North Koreans from working abroad under work visas, but allows other forms of visas.  This loophole enables North Korean workers to go abroad under student or trainee visas, even though they still send remittances to the regime.[8] North Korea previously used this tactic in 2018 to work around sanctions, sending workers to China under trainee visas for Chinese factories and restaurants, or using student visas as a cover.[9]
           
In Russia, employers continue to seek North Korean workers, whom they consider “disciplined, law-abiding and inexpensive.”[10] For their part, many North Koreans want to work abroad, believing it will lead to a better life for them and their families back home. Those who wish to go abroad have to undergo stringent background checks and meet physical requirements that the regime believes will reflect well on North Korea, and many pay bribes for the opportunity.[11] However, those who go abroad experience little to no freedom. According to one study, North Korean workers in Russia oftentimes do not receive a work contract; do not have access to electricity or running water in employee housing; work for a minimum wage for 12-20 hour days— 30% of which is “given to the North Korean government, after which living and food expenses [are] also deducted from their income”; and do not have access to the financial assistance that is supposed to be provided by employers in the case of death or illness, as the North Korean government pockets these restitution funds.[12] Additionally, although some North Koreans are exposed to information that counters disinformation from the regime and may motivate them to consider escape,[13] these workers’ relatives back home are essentially held hostage to prevent defection.[14] The 2017 United States State Department Trafficking in Persons Report comes to the same conclusion as the previously mentioned study regarding the conditions of North Korean laborers abroad. According to the report, “many North Koreans working under these contracts are subjected to conditions indicative of forced labor, such as working excessively long hours in hazardous temperatures with restricted pay for up to three years,” while they “face threats of government reprisals against them or their relatives in [North Korea] if they attempt to escape or complain to outside parties,” among other human rights concerns.[15]
           
The UN needs to take measures to implement Security Council Resolution 2397, for the sake of both international security and human rights. The aim to halt the employment of North Korean laborers abroad to earn money for the regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs cannot be achieved while loopholes in Resolution 2397 allow North Koreans to enter countries under a different type of visa. Furthermore, as long as forced labor conditions exist for North Korean laborers abroad and the regime denies them basic freedoms, this system of migrant workers will remain a grave human rights injustice.

Hayley Noah is a second-year student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, pursuing an M.A. in Global Policy Studies. Her specialization is Security, Law, and Diplomacy​.

​
[1] Britt C.H. Blom and Rosa Brandse, “Surveillance and Long Hours: North Korean Workers in Russia,” in People for Profit, ed. Remco E. Breuker and Imke B.C.H. Van Gardingen (LeidenAsiaCentre, 2018), 43-68, https://leidenasiacentre.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/People-for-Profit-North-Korean-Forced-Labour-on-a-Global-Scale.pdf, 45.
[2] Elizabeth Shim, “Russia, North Korea sign ‘labor immigration’ accord,” UPI¸ March 27, 2017, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/03/27/Russia-North-Korea-sign-labor-immigration-accord/4261490633465/?ur3=1.
[3] UN Security Council. “Resolution on the situation of human rights in the DPRK,” UN Doc. S/RES/2397. Nov. 14, 2014.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Jang Seul Gi, “North Korea hands down recall order to all workers in China,” Daily NK, Sept. 24, 2019, https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-orders-one-day-early-recall-all-workers-china/.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Tae-jun Kang, “How North Korea Uses ‘Students’ and ‘Trainees’ Overseas to Bypass UN Sanctions,” The Diplomat, Jan. 4, 2020, https://thediplomat.com/2020/01/how-north-korea-uses-students-and-trainees-overseas-to-bypass-un-sanctions/.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Blom and Brandse, “Surveillance and Long Hours,” 47.
[11] Min Joo Kim and Simon Denyer, “A U.N. deadline is forcing North Korea’s global workers to go home. Some never will,” The Washington Post, Dec. 21, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/a-un-deadline-is-forcing-north-koreas-global-workers-to-go-home-some-never-will/2019/12/20/cf59ac04-1c14-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html.
[12] Chan Hong Park, Conditions of Labor and Human Rights: North Korean Overseas Laborers in Russia (Seoul: NKDB, 2016) quoted in Blom and Brandse, “Surveillance and Long Hours,” 51.
[13] Kim and Denyer, “A U.N. deadline is forcing North Korea’s global workers to go home.”
[14] Blom and Brandse, “Surveillance and Long Hours,” (62).
[15] U.S. Department of State, “Trafficking in Persons Report,” June 2017, https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/271339.pdf, 235.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Dedication

    ​HRNK staff members and interns wish to dedicate this program to our colleagues Katty Chi and Miran Song.

    A native of Chile and graduate of the London School of Economics, Katty became a North Korean human rights defender in her early 20s. Katty was chief of international affairs with the North Korea Strategy Center (NKSC) in Seoul from 2010 to 2014 and worked with the Seoul Office of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) from 2019 to 2020. A remarkable member of our small North Korean human rights community, Katty brought inspiration and good humor to all. Katty passed away in Seoul in May 2020, at the young age of 32. She is survived by her parents and brother living in Chile.

    A graduate of Kyung Hee University and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Miran was a research intern at HRNK from 2012 to 2013. After graduating from Fletcher, Miran fulfilled her long-cherished dream to work in the field with international NGOs and South Korean government agencies, dedicating herself to sustainable development projects in Uganda and Ethiopia. A staunch human rights defender and passionate humanitarian, she lived her short, difficult, and meaningful life feeling blessed by the opportunity to help others. She passed away in 2022, at the young age of 31.

    With the YPWP series, we endeavor to honor Katty and Miran’s life and work.

    Greg Scarlatoiu

    If you have any questions or would like to write for us, contact us at outreach@hrnk.org.

    Categories

    All
    김일성 초상휘장
    생활총화
    청년동맹위원장과 청소년지도원
    2010 World Cup Team
    AllSource Analysis
    Arduous March
    Bitcoin
    Bithumb
    Blockchain
    China
    Coincheck
    Concentration-camps
    Crimes-against-humanity
    Cryptocurrency
    Crypto Industry
    Cyberattack
    Cybercrime
    Cyber Crime
    David Hawk
    Donald Trump
    DPRK
    DPRK Sanctions
    DPRK Sports
    FATF
    Federal Reserve Bank
    FEMA Conspiracy Theory
    FIFA
    FinCen
    Forced Abortion
    Forced Marriage
    Gender Discrimination
    Gender Repression
    Global Programme On Cybercrime
    Google Earth
    Greg Scarlatoiu
    Gulags
    Hidden Gulag
    HRNK
    Human Rights
    Human Trafficking
    Illicit
    Infanticide
    Informal Markets
    International Community
    Jangmadang
    Jangmadang Generation
    Kim Il-sung
    Kim Il-sung Badge
    Kim Il-sung Cho-sang-hui-jang
    Kim Jong-suk
    Kim Jong Un
    Kim Jong-un
    Kim Regime
    Kwan Li So
    Kwan-li-so
    Kyo Hwa So
    Kyo-hwa-so
    Laogai
    May Day Stadium
    Monero
    NK Athletes
    North Korea
    North Korean Athletes
    North Korean Economy
    North Korean Hackers
    North Korean Markets
    Olympic Games
    Payment Services Act
    Political Prisoners
    Prison Camps
    Prisoner Testimony
    PyeongChang Olympics
    Red Youth Guard
    Refugees
    Saeng-hwal-chong-hwa
    Satellite Imagery
    School
    Self-criticism
    Sexual Exploitation
    Sexual Violence
    Singapore Summit
    Summit
    Technology
    The Game Of Their Lives
    Torture
    Treasury
    Trump Kim Summit
    UN Commission Of Inquiry
    United Nations
    UN Sanctions
    U.S. Treasury Department
    Wanna Cry
    World Cup
    Youth Alliance Chairman And Youth Instructors

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    August 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    August 2018
    June 2018
    August 2017
    March 2017
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015

      Submit a Blog Post or Ask a Question:

    Submit

    Categories

    All
    김일성 초상휘장
    생활총화
    청년동맹위원장과 청소년지도원
    2010 World Cup Team
    AllSource Analysis
    Arduous March
    Bitcoin
    Bithumb
    Blockchain
    China
    Coincheck
    Concentration-camps
    Crimes-against-humanity
    Cryptocurrency
    Crypto Industry
    Cyberattack
    Cybercrime
    Cyber Crime
    David Hawk
    Donald Trump
    DPRK
    DPRK Sanctions
    DPRK Sports
    FATF
    Federal Reserve Bank
    FEMA Conspiracy Theory
    FIFA
    FinCen
    Forced Abortion
    Forced Marriage
    Gender Discrimination
    Gender Repression
    Global Programme On Cybercrime
    Google Earth
    Greg Scarlatoiu
    Gulags
    Hidden Gulag
    HRNK
    Human Rights
    Human Trafficking
    Illicit
    Infanticide
    Informal Markets
    International Community
    Jangmadang
    Jangmadang Generation
    Kim Il-sung
    Kim Il-sung Badge
    Kim Il-sung Cho-sang-hui-jang
    Kim Jong-suk
    Kim Jong Un
    Kim Jong-un
    Kim Regime
    Kwan Li So
    Kwan-li-so
    Kyo Hwa So
    Kyo-hwa-so
    Laogai
    May Day Stadium
    Monero
    NK Athletes
    North Korea
    North Korean Athletes
    North Korean Economy
    North Korean Hackers
    North Korean Markets
    Olympic Games
    Payment Services Act
    Political Prisoners
    Prison Camps
    Prisoner Testimony
    PyeongChang Olympics
    Red Youth Guard
    Refugees
    Saeng-hwal-chong-hwa
    Satellite Imagery
    School
    Self-criticism
    Sexual Exploitation
    Sexual Violence
    Singapore Summit
    Summit
    Technology
    The Game Of Their Lives
    Torture
    Treasury
    Trump Kim Summit
    UN Commission Of Inquiry
    United Nations
    UN Sanctions
    U.S. Treasury Department
    Wanna Cry
    World Cup
    Youth Alliance Chairman And Youth Instructors

    RSS Feed

Contact Us

Picture

© 2022 Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. All rights reserved.

DONATE
  • Home
  • About the Camps
    • Introduction
    • Kwan-li-so vs. Kyo-hwa-so
    • Locations
    • HRNK Reports
    • UN Commission of Inquiry
    • Transitional Justice
  • Blog
  • Victims
    • Prisoners
    • Women
    • Disappeared Persons
  • HRNK
    • About us
    • HRNK Insider
  • Donate