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Related: About this forumNKorean workers prep seafood going to US stores, restaurants
Source: Associated Press
NKorean workers prep seafood going to US stores, restaurants
By TIM SULLIVAN, HYUNG-JIN KIM AND MARTHA MENDOZA
Today
HUNCHUN, China (AP) The workers wake up each morning on metal bunk beds in fluorescent-lit Chinese dormitories, North Koreans outsourced by their government to process seafood that ends up in American stores and homes.
Privacy is forbidden. They cannot leave their compounds without permission. They must take the few steps to the factories in pairs or groups, with North Korean minders ensuring no one strays. They have no access to telephones or email. And they are paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest as much as 70 percent is taken by North Koreas government.
This means Americans buying salmon for dinner at Walmart or ALDI may inadvertently have subsidized the North Korean government as it builds its nuclear weapons program, an AP investigation has found. Their purchases may also have supported what the United States calls modern day slavery even if the jobs are highly coveted by North Koreans.
At a time when North Korea faces sanctions on many exports, the government is sending tens of thousands of workers worldwide, bringing in revenue estimated at anywhere from $200 million to $500 million a year. That could account for a sizable portion of North Koreas nuclear weapons and missile programs, which South Korea says have cost more than $1 billion.
-snip-
By TIM SULLIVAN, HYUNG-JIN KIM AND MARTHA MENDOZA
Today
HUNCHUN, China (AP) The workers wake up each morning on metal bunk beds in fluorescent-lit Chinese dormitories, North Koreans outsourced by their government to process seafood that ends up in American stores and homes.
Privacy is forbidden. They cannot leave their compounds without permission. They must take the few steps to the factories in pairs or groups, with North Korean minders ensuring no one strays. They have no access to telephones or email. And they are paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest as much as 70 percent is taken by North Koreas government.
This means Americans buying salmon for dinner at Walmart or ALDI may inadvertently have subsidized the North Korean government as it builds its nuclear weapons program, an AP investigation has found. Their purchases may also have supported what the United States calls modern day slavery even if the jobs are highly coveted by North Koreans.
At a time when North Korea faces sanctions on many exports, the government is sending tens of thousands of workers worldwide, bringing in revenue estimated at anywhere from $200 million to $500 million a year. That could account for a sizable portion of North Koreas nuclear weapons and missile programs, which South Korea says have cost more than $1 billion.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/8b493b7df6e147e98d19f3abb5ca090a/NKorean-workers-prep-seafood-going-to-US-stores,-restaurants
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NKorean workers prep seafood going to US stores, restaurants (Original Post)
Eugene
Oct 2017
OP
Also, I only buy from reputable vendors. After 45 years in the food business in MD....
JoeOtterbein
Oct 2017
#5
samnsara
(17,635 posts)1. theres no way i would ever buy Salmon at Walmart!!
...ya gets whats ya pays for....
JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)2. I don't buy seafood without "Product of the USA" stamp
elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)4. Product of USA can be processed elsewhere
Sorry. Sucks but it's true.
JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)5. Also, I only buy from reputable vendors. After 45 years in the food business in MD....
...I should know a little by now!
Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)3. North Koreans laboring in China
That seems so wrong