In brief
A recent study by the Environmental Justice Foundation highlights the existence of North Korean laborers on Chinese fishing vessels in the Indian Ocean. These workers endure extensive periods at sea under grueling conditions, with their wages directed towards Kim Jong-un's regime instead of their families, raising concerns about forced labor practices in global fishing.
Thousands of miles from their homeland, North Koreans have been toiling on Chinese tuna longliners in the Indian Ocean, a situation that sheds light on the dire state of human rights and the financial strategies of Kim Jong-un's government. According to a report released Monday by the Environmental Justice Foundation, these workers often spend up to a decade at sea, laboring in some of the harshest conditions in the distant waters. Many of them never set foot on land due to their Chinese captains’ fears of attracting attention from port authorities.Most of the fishermen's earnings are siphoned off directly to North Korea’s government, purportedly supporting its increasingly isolated and cash-strapped regime. The UN prohibits its member states from employing North Korean workers, citing concerns that such labor arrangements contribute funding to the nation’s nuclear ambitions. Despite these regulations, reports suggest that Kim Jong-un continues to deploy tens of thousands of North Koreans abroad to accrue cash and other advantages for his leadership.In addition to fishing, North Koreans have worked in diverse sectors across the globe—factories and restaurants in China, logging camps and construction sites in Russia, and agriculture and shipbuilding endeavors in Eastern Europe. Notably, around 11,000 North Koreans were reportedly sent to support Russian efforts in the conflict with Ukraine.The hardships faced by these fishermen have remained largely overlooked due to their remote circumstances, isolated from the rest of the world and their families for prolonged periods. The reported conditions are described as egregiously exploitative, constituting forced labor that surpasses the widespread abuses seen in the global fishing industry, according to the foundation's findings.
