US warning over N Korea’s outsourcing of forced labour: stiff fines or criminal charges if workers in supply chain
AMERICAN companies were put on notice this week by the Trump administration that they could face steep fines, or even criminal charges, if their business involves North Korean workers anywhere in their supply chain.
A State Department advisory, published online, also provided the most detailed and comprehensive public listing to date of more than 40 countries and about a dozen industries where North Koreans were employed in 2017 and 2018, in violation of UN sanctions. The workers are typically paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest, as much as 70%, is taken by North Korea’s government.
“Dangers can be lurking in global supply chains,” said Anthony Talbott, who heads the University of Dayton’s Human Rights Centre. “North Korea is the most brutal, anti-Christian regime in the world. The only reason an American corporation would be contracting with companies using their labourers would be because their prices are significantly lower.”
North Korean workers abroad typically work 16 to 20-hour shifts with only a few days off each month, said the State Department, which describes the system as a type of human trafficking. Their pay supports North Korea’s programmes of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the advisory said.
“Businesses should be aware of North Korea’s deceptive practices in order to... ensure compliance with applicable legal requirements across their entire supply chains,” the State Department said.
The advisory also names more than 230 North Korean companies that have joint ventures with partners from China and other countries. The companies produce a variety of items, including apparel, small electronics and minerals.
American manufacturers, which import about 10 percent of their supply chains, could face legal repercussions if they bought materials produced by those joint ventures.
The North Korean government receives hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign currency – as much as a tenth of its economy – from its citizens’ labour, experts say. – AP