On Monday, September 26, 2022, HRNK held a virtual launch of its latest report, North Korean Workers Officially Dispatched to China & Russia: Human Rights Denial, Chain of Command & Control by Greg Scarlatoiu, with Raymond Ha and Hyunseung Lee.

The report finds that “the working conditions at overseas worksites constitute forced, slave labor.” In particular, “there are severe violations of the International Labor Organization’s core Conventions and North Korea’s own labor laws.” The report also provides information about the situation of overseas workers in China & Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an outline of the chain of command & control that directs the official dispatch of overseas workers.

The report is available online at https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Overseas_Workers_0926.pdf.

Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director, opened the event with an overview of the practice of dispatching North Korean workers overseas, along with a summary of HRNK’s efforts to investigate the issue.

Raymond Ha, HRNK Director of Operations & Research, then provided an assessment of the gravity of labor standard violations affecting North Korea’s overseas workers.

This was followed by Hyunseung Lee, HRNK Advisor and North Korea analyst, who gave a detailed presentation about how the North Korean regime manages and oversees the official dispatch of overseas workers.

The event concluded with a brief Q&A session.

Please click on the following link to view the video recording of the report launch: https://youtu.be/fSdjRB1pIXE