They stayed at sea for up to 10 years, struggling under some of the worst conditions that distant water fishermen may face. Many people never set foot on land because their Chinese captains don’t want the port authorities to see them. Most of their salary is handed over directly to their government, and some of their gains are likely to end up at tables in Europe and Asia.
These are the government-designated North Koreans working on long Chinese tuna floors in the Indian Ocean, according to a report released by the London-based Environmental Justice Foundation on Monday. Through them, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un has established a new source of income for his cash-strapped regime.
The UN prohibits member states from hiring North Korean workers because its Security Council said the Kim government uses them to raise funds for its nuclear weapons program. But Mr. King sent thousands of foreign people to earn cash and other benefits for his regime.
They have worked in factories and restaurants in China, at logging camps and construction sites in Russia, as well as farms and shipyards in Eastern Europe. They sweated on construction sites in the Middle East and built monuments for African dictators. An estimated 11,000 North Koreans fought for Russia in the war with Ukraine.
So far, the fate of North Korean fishermen has attracted little global attention because they have been isolated from the rest of the world for many years in the vast ocean.
The foundation said in a report shared with the New York Times before its publication that the conditions they face “will constitute a strong labor, which exceeds most of the already abusive situation in the global fishing industry.”
The foundation said regulatory and other available data suggest that the products of these vessels may be entering the European, British and Asian markets. It said the organization found at least 12 Chinese-flagged tuna long forest plates using North Korean labor force between 2019 and last year, four of which were authorized to export fish to Europe and the UK. It said the aircraft carrier ships suspected of collecting fish from these Chinese ships at sea visited markets in Asia, including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
“If it was your husband, brother, father, son who was imprisoned on the boat for months or years without getting off, I think you can understand what it means and how the product is made and why we shouldn’t foundation CEO Steve Trent said: “Take it. “These workers are not free to choose how and when to work. They were forced to be on these ships and stay there. ”
The foundation, which campaigned on environmental and human rights issues, found evidence based on evidence, including interviews with 19 Indonesian and Filipino crew members who said they had worked with North Koreans. Its investigators also obtained video clips, which mentioned that North Koreans were on the boat and spoke to shipmates in the South Koreans. Three of Indonesian seafarers also spoke separately with The New York Times. Times have not revealed their identity because they can work again on Chinese fishing boats.
The crew said they communicated with the North Koreans while working with each other in body language and Mandarin.
They told North Korean crew how they usually transferred their crew to sea vessels before they docked, and later went back. The crew who logged in could use their cell phones to call families, but the North Koreans don’t even have cell phones.
If foreign port authorities find their presence, it could cause legal trouble for Chinese captains: In December 2022, Mauritius news media reported arrests of six North Korean workers and the captain of a Chinese fishing boat.
“I docked again in Somalia, Mauritius, Australia, Madagascar and Somalia, and the North Koreans were always transferred,” said a former Indonesian fisherman. “One of them told me that he had a wife who had been in the seven years he left. Never contacted.”
On these Chinese ships, most of the crew took their passports, so they were unable to abscond. They only catch five to six hours of sleep a day, but the North Koreans are usually the most skilled workers on board because they spend their time at sea. The second former Indonesian fisherman remembered how the North Koreans on his boat urged others to work faster, shouting the North Korean phrase “Hurry up”: ppallihara.
When their countries keep borders closed until the end of 2023, the pandemic has extended sea hours. They work during the pandemic, and some move to other Chinese Midsey after their three- or four-year contracts end.
“Their family doesn’t know if they are still alive,” said a third Indonesian fisherman, who said he had worked with three North Koreans. “They never said how they felt. But I can’t imagine you haven’t set foot on land in eight years.”
Indonesian crew earns about $330 a month, but I don’t know how much the North Koreans make. The North Koreans told them that their salary belongs directly to the government. An Indonesian crew member said North Koreans only live with the bonus they received. Another said they were allowed to keep a $50 salary.
“They did save all the money,” said an Indonesian fisherman. “They showed me all the cents they collected.”
The foundation says China’s distant water fleet is the largest in the world. It cannot estimate how many North Koreans work on Chinese fishing boats around the world until a wider study was conducted.
Asked about Monday’s report, China’s foreign ministry said China has always required its offshore fishing to comply with local and relevant international laws.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said: “The cooperation between China and North Korea is carried out in accordance with the framework of international law.”
According to South Korea’s estimates, North Korea has sent workers abroad and earn billions of dollars a year.
In 2017, the UN Security Council passed a resolution requiring UN member states to expel North Korean workers by the end of 2019. But more than 100,000 North Koreans are still working in 40 countries, a UN team of experts reported last year.
North Korean workers must monitor each other and maintain indoctrination when they go abroad.
The former North Koreans’ boat friends remembered that they showed videos of the military parade and their speeches by Mr. Kim, the leader. They often wear their best clothes, hang flags, sing, and stand upright.
But their former boatmates can tell the North Koreans how to live their own homes. One of the Indonesian crew recalls when North Korean colleagues were finally allowed to go home.
“He was so excited and anxious that when we told him to take a break and sleep, he refused,” he said. “He was just sitting on the deck and watching the other staff at work.”
