South Korea’s National Intelligence Service stated that North Koreans working in China have staged rare protests in response to poor working conditions and various “incidents and accidents.” In one instance in late January, as many as 3,000 North Koreans working at a military-affiliated trading company protested due to unpaid wages and strict pandemic-era lockdowns. China is actively attempting to comply with UN resolutions and send North Korean laborers home, but North Korea wants to maintain the workers’ presence in China. According to the 2023 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, Pyongyang seizes over 90% of these workers’ wages for government funding and withholds their remaining wages until they return to North Korea. DOS compared these conditions to “forced labor.” A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson stated they were unaware of the issue. Ko Young-hwan, a North Korean defector who advises South Korea’s unification minister, stated in an interview that the North Korean consulate in China had to calm angry groups of workers who took their managers hostage.
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