A London-based organization specializing in environmental and human rights issues revealed in a report released on February 22 (last Saturday) that Chinese fishing fleets illegally employed North Korean crew members for deep-sea fishing from 2019 to 2024, potentially violating a United Nations ban.
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) highlighted in its latest report that these North Korean crew members were not only deprived of basic human rights but also likely to be trapped at sea for long periods, subjected to severe abuse. This incident has sparked widespread international concern about forced labor and sanctions enforcement.
The illegal use of North Korean crew members violates a sanction resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, which prohibits member countries from issuing work permits to North Koreans and requires the repatriation of all remaining North Korean workers by the end of 2019.
These sanctions were imposed after North Korea conducted nuclear tests and long-range missile tests in violation of Security Council resolutions.
The human rights organization found that there were North Korean crew members on 12 Chinese tuna longline fishing vessels operating in the southwest Indian Ocean, based on interviews with 19 Indonesian and Filipino crew members.
According to the report, “Based on the testimonies of Indonesian and Filipino crew members, these North Koreans on board were deliberately hidden and forced to work at sea for up to 10 years, with some not setting foot on land during that time.”
The report further stated, “This would constitute forced labor, the severity of which far exceeds all other abuse cases in the global fishing industry.”
The organization revealed that North Koreans were transferred from one vessel to another to prevent them from returning to land, making it difficult for EJF to estimate the number of North Korean crew members on Chinese vessels.
EJF cited Asian crew members, who requested anonymity, saying that their North Korean colleagues were not allowed to use phones or leave the ship during port stops.
Furthermore, this situation appears to circumvent the legal frameworks in the UK and EU aimed at preventing products made in North Korea from entering their supply chains. EJF also discovered vessels suspected of receiving fish from Chinese ships entering major Asian markets including Japan, Taiwan, and Korea.
For a long time, China and Russia have been criticized for not strictly enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea. Experts believe that the foreign exchange earned by North Korea through overseas labor is a significant source of funding for its nuclear weapon program.
According to defectors and related studies, before the UN imposed sanctions, tens of thousands of North Korean workers were employed in factories, restaurants in China, logging camps, and construction sites in Russia, with most of their income confiscated by the North Korean authorities.
EJF noted that this is the first documented case of North Korean labor appearing on deep-sea fishing vessels. According to the Associated Press, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not responded to these findings. South Korean officials and experts warn that despite the UN embargo, a large number of North Korean workers may still be engaging in economic activities globally, providing financial support to the North Korean regime.