Please join Young Professionals in International Affairs for a presentation by Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
The session will focus on the trafficking of North Korean laborers by their government to work abroad. Despite multiple sets of sanctions, North Korea has sold its citizens to work internationally through agreements with other countries. Estimates place 50,000-60,000 North Korean laborers abroad through bilateral contracts with 40 countries – primarily, Russia, China, Mongolia, nations in Africa, Central Europe and the Middle East – earning approximately $2.3 billion per year as a means of foreign currency income generation for the struggling government.
This discussion will examine the reasons for human trafficking, the impact trafficking has on North Koreans, where laborers are working and potential policy responses from the international community to halt the North Korean regime from gaining benefits through labor exploitation.
Speaker Bio- Greg Scarlatoiu is Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) in Washington, D.C., tasked with researching and reporting as well as conducting educational and outreach programs. An experienced lecturer on North Korean human rights, political security and economic issues on the Korean peninsula, Scarlatoiu has appeared as an expert witness at three Congressional hearings on North Korean human rights. Scarlatoiu was formerly Director of Public Affairs and Business Issues of the Korea Economic Institute (KEI) in Washington, D.C. He has eighteen years of Korean and English language broadcasting experience for TV and radio stations including Radio Free Asia, Korea Broadcasting System, Hyundai Broadcasting System and Arirang TV. For eleven years, he has been authoring and broadcasting the weekly Scarlatoiu Column to North Korea, for Radio Free Asia. Intimately familiar with Korea and Northeast Asia, Scarlatoiu has over six years’ experience in international development consulting, having delivered field technical assistance under missions funded by USAID, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. He has conducted eleven annual surveys of compliance with International Labor Organization (ILO) core Conventions in the Republic of Korea. He holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School, Tufts University ; and an MA and BA from Seoul National University, Department of International Relations. He is fluent in Korean, French and Romanian.
Potential Discussion Questions:
1) The North Korean regime’s manipulation of the workforce is a means for survival. What are the consequences of relying on trafficking for economic sustainability?
2) What other options remain for labor migrants when the protections granted under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the United Nations Convention Against Torture are ignored?
3) What means can the international community wield to entice countries to revoke their bilateral contracts with North Korea?
References
North Korea Exports Forced Laborers for Profit, Rights Groups Say
Beyond the UN COI Report on Human Rights in North Korea
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