INVISIBLE WORKERS
The New Yorker|March 04, 2024
How North Korea operates a forced-labor program in China.
IAN URBINA
INVISIBLE WORKERS

In February of last year, Donggang Jina company in Dandong, China, threw a party. It had been a successful year: a new plant had opened, and the company had doubled the amount of squid that it exported to the United States. The party, according to videos posted on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, featured singers, instrumentalists, dancers, fireworks, and strobe lights. One aspect of the company's success seems to have been its use of North Korean workers, who are sent by their government to work in Chinese factories, in conditions of captivity, to earn money for the state. A seafood trader who does business with Jinhui recently estimated that it employed between fifty and seventy North Koreans. Videos posted by a company representative show machines labelled in Korean, and workers with North Korean accents explaining how to clean squid. At the party, the company played songs that are popular in Pyongyang, including "People Bring Glory to Our Party" (written by North Korea's 1989 poet laureate) and "We Will Go to Mt. Paektu" (a reference to the widely mythologized birthplace of Kim Jong II). Performers wore North Korean colors, and the country's flag billowed behind them; in the audience, dozens of workers held miniature flags.

Drone footage played at the event showed off Jinhui's twenty-one-acre, fenced-in compound, which has processing and cold-storage facilities and what appears to be a seven-floor dormitory for workers. The company touted a wide array of Western certifications from organizations that claim to check workplaces for labor violations, including the use of North Korean workers. When videos of the party were posted online, a commenter-presumably befuddled, because using these workers violates U.N. sanctions asked, "Aren't you prohibited from filming this?"

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 04, 2024-Ausgabe von The New Yorker.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 04, 2024-Ausgabe von The New Yorker.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS THE NEW YORKERAlle anzeigen
BADDIE ISSUES
The New Yorker

BADDIE ISSUES

\"Wicked\" and \"Gladiator II.\"

time-read
6 Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
The New Yorker

LET'S MAKE A DEAL

\"Death Becomes Her\" and \"Burnout Paradise.\"

time-read
5 Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
ANTI HEROES
The New Yorker

ANTI HEROES

\"The Franchise,\" on HBO.

time-read
5 Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
FELLOW-TRAVELLERS
The New Yorker

FELLOW-TRAVELLERS

The surprisingly sunny origins of the Frankfurt School.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
NOW YOU SEE ME
The New Yorker

NOW YOU SEE ME

John Singer Sargent's strange, slippery portraits of an art dealer's family.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
PARIS FRIEND - SHUANG XUETAO
The New Yorker

PARIS FRIEND - SHUANG XUETAO

Xiaoguo had a terror of thirst, so he kept a glass of water on the table beside his hospital bed. As soon as it was empty, he asked me to refill it. I wanted to warn him that this was unhealthy - guzzling water all night long puts pressure on the kidneys, and pissing that much couldn't be good for his injury. He was tall, though, so I decided his insides could probably cope.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
WILD SIDE
The New Yorker

WILD SIDE

Is Lake Tahoe's bear boom getting out of hand?

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
GETTING A GRIP
The New Yorker

GETTING A GRIP

Robots learn to use their hands.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
WITHHOLDING SEX FROM MY WIFE
The New Yorker

WITHHOLDING SEX FROM MY WIFE

In the wake of [the] election, progressive women, who are outraged over Donald Trump's victory at the ballot box, have taken to social media with public, vengeful vows of chastity. - The Free Press.

time-read
4 Minuten  |
December 02, 2024
DEADLINE EXTENSION
The New Yorker

DEADLINE EXTENSION

Old age, reborn.

time-read
10+ Minuten  |
December 02, 2024