Inside North Korea’s Forced-Labor Program in China
www.newyorker.com
Workers sent from the country to Chinese factories describe enduring beatings and sexual abuse, having their wages taken by the state, and being told that if they try to escape they will be “killed without a trace.”

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9330778

[WARNING: This story contains details that may distress some readers.]

The workers, all of whom are women, described conditions of confinement and violence at the plants. Workers are held in compounds, sometimes behind barbed wire, under the watch of security agents. Many work gruelling shifts and get at most one day off a month. Several described being beaten by the managers sent by North Korea to watch them. “It was like prison for me,” one woman said. “At first, I almost vomited at how bad it was, and, just when I got used to it, the supervisors would tell us to shut up, and curse if we talked.” Many described enduring sexual assault at the hands of their managers. “They would say I’m fuckable and then suddenly grab my body and grope my breasts and put their dirty mouth on mine and be disgusting,” a woman who did product transport at a plant in the city of Dalian said.

Another, who worked at Jinhui, said, “The worst and saddest moment was when I was forced to have sexual relations when we were brought to a party with alcohol.” The workers described being kept at the factories against their will, and being threatened with severe punishment if they tried to escape. A woman who was at a factory called Dalian Haiqing Food for more than four years said, “It’s often emphasized that, if you are caught running away, you will be killed without a trace.”

[Edit typo.]

  • THE_MASTERMIND
    71·
    10 months ago

    Fuck now i feel guilty for buying chines tech . Tech includes right ? Or as apple said if we don’t buy anything from them will that make their situation worse or better ? If someone could reply i’ll appreciate it.

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
      7·
      10 months ago

      It’s all but impossible currently to buy anything tech without at least some component being manufactured in China

      It’s kinda like chocolate and trying to buy chocolate not made from cocoa beans that were grown and harvested with slave labor. You can buy from brands that seek out increased ethical cocoa beans, but none of them are able to make chocolate from completely ethically sources

      • 0x815@feddit.deOP
        2·
        10 months ago

        Yeah, it’s quite difficult. There must be more political pressure from the international community as this problem can’t be solved by consumers alone.

        I’m afraid that all industries and supply chains are effected, from food to clothing, and from pharmacies to tech. I posted this documentary (95 min) some time ago, we all read about Apple’s China issues during the pandemic, … you’ll easily find more across the web or here on Lemmy in the China community.

        • DessertStorms@kbin.social
          1·
          10 months ago

          There must be more political pressure from the international community as this problem can’t be solved by consumers alone.

          Nor will it be resolved by governments, that are owned by the capitalists and complicit in their crimes. We only stop this endless abuse and destruction in service of adding profit and power to the already rich and powerful, by removing them and their systems that not only encourage this kind of thing, but require it, to exist.

      • Intelligence_Gap@beehaw.orgEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        I think their work culture is pretty unacceptable but it’s certainly better than what’s mentioned in this article