Chinese fishing vessels used North Korean crews in breach of U.N. bans, report says

NBC News

25-02-2025

SEOUL, South Korea — A fleet of Chinese fishing vessels used North Korean crews from 2019 to 2024 in violation of U.N. bans, and many people were apparently subjected to abuses including being trapped at sea for years, a report said Monday.
The Environmental Justice Foundation, a London-based group specializing in environmental and human rights issues, said it identified the presence of North Koreans on 12 Chinese tuna long-liners operating in the southwest Indian Ocean. The report was based mostly on interviews with 19 Indonesians and Filipinos who worked alongside them.
'The testimony received from Indonesian and Filipino crew members suggests that concerted efforts were made to hide the presence of North Koreans on these vessels, and that those North Koreans on board were forced to work for as many as 10 years at sea — in some instances without ever stepping foot on land,' the report said.
'This would constitute forced labor of a magnitude that surpasses much of that witnessed in a global fishing industry already replete with abuse,' it added.
The group said the North Koreans were passed from vessel to vessel to prevent them from returning to land. It cited unidentified Asian crew members as saying their North Korean shipmates were not allowed to use mobile phones or leave vessels during port visits.
The group said it was unable to estimate the number of North Koreans aboard the Chinese vessels because of the transfers.
The use of North Korean crew would be a breach of 2017 U.N. Security Council resolutions that required member states not to issue work permits to North Koreans and to repatriate all remaining North Korean workers from their territories by the end of 2019.
The sanctions were adopted after North Korea conducted nuclear and long-range missile tests in violation of earlier council resolutions.
The group said the use of North Korean crews also appears to have bypassed legal frameworks in Britain and the European Union designed to prevent goods produced by North Koreans from entering their supply chains. The EJF said that it also found ships that were suspected of collecting fish from the Chinese vessels had entered key markets in Asia including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
Along with Russia, China is suspected of not fully enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and has vetoed U.S.-led efforts to toughen U.N. sanctions on North Korea despite its banned weapons tests.
Asked about the EJF report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a briefing Monday that he was not not familiar with it but said China carries out offshore fishing in accordance with laws and regulations.
Lin said China's relevant cooperation with North Korea is also conducted 'within the framework of international law.'
The EJF said it was the first time North Korean labor had been publicly documented on a distant-water fishing vessel.
Before the 2019 U.N. deadline, tens of thousands of North Koreans were reported to be working abroad, mostly at factories and restaurants in China and logging camps and construction sites in Russia, to bring in much-needed foreign currency.
North Korean workers abroad were in general under the constant surveillance of their country's security agents, toiled more than 12 hours a day and took home a fraction of their salaries, with the rest going to their government, according to defectors and experts.
Despite the U.N. ban, South Korean officials and experts believe a large number of North Korean workers remain engaged in economic activities around the world and transmit money that is used in the North's nuclear weapons programs.