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Slaves to the System BREUKER & VAN GARDINGEN SLAVES TO THE SYSTEM NORTH KOREAN FORCED LABOUR IN THE EUROPEAN SLAVES TO THE SYSTEM UNION: THE POLISH CASE NORTH KOREAN FORCED LABOUR IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE POLISH CASE How the Supply of a Captive DPRK Workforce Fits Our Demand for Cheap Labour In 2014, a North Korean welder died in a horrible accident in a Polish shipyard. According to the Polish Labour Inspectorate, the safety measures in place were not sufficient to provide even a modicum of safety to the welder. Working at least 12- hours workdays, 6 days per week, he S was not allowed to go anywhere in Poland ex- cept for work and home and did not receive L most of the money his work earned. Like his col- A leagues, he was forced to participate in ideo- logical sessions worshipping an absolute god- V like leader in his free time. He never received an E employment contract and was not in possession of his own passport. Chŏn and his North Kore- S an colleagues in Poland are victims of forced labour. And a special kind of forced labour at that, one that is ideologically enforced and T shaped, exported across borders and instigated and executed by the North Korean state. O The Slaves to the System project has investigat- ed this phenomenon with experts on DPRK, la- T bour migration, EU employment law and human H rights, collecting information through witness testimonies, field research in Poland and ar- E chival research into company structures, visas, bilateral treaties, and Polish and North Korean government sources. S Y Edited by S REMCO BREUKER AND T IMKE VAN GARDINGEN ISBN 978-90-826167-0-5 E M Slaves to the System: North Korean Forced Labour in the EU Researching contemporary North Korea and North Koreans is fraught with danger. Not necessarily for the researchers themselves (although the DPRK regime has shown not to be above threats and intimidation aimed at academics), but also and primarily for North Koreans themselves. It does not take a great feat of imagination to picture what could happen to any- one perceived in Pyongyang to have fallen foul of the regime. Or to just be expendable. These considerations informed our protection protocols, but have not dissuaded us from doing the research in the first place. Our prime reason for undertaking this research was the realization that the sudden increase in DPRK overseas forced labour would continue, given the low risks and high profits involved for the DPRK. This victimizes a growing number of people and secures abundant sources of hard currency for a state that in terms of human rights violations was considered in 2014 to be ‘without parallel’ by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK. Contributors (in alphabetical order): Marte Boonen (Research MA Asian Studies, Leiden University) is a researcher at LeidenAsiaCentre. She focuses on International Relations, Security and Human Rights of East Asia, and is currently working on North Korea and Japan. Klara Boonstra is Professor of International Law at the Free University of Amsterdam. She is President of the Wiardi Beckman Foundation Re- search Centre for Social Democracy. In addition, she is a member of the Advisory Board of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights. Remco Breuker (P.I.) is Professor of Korean Studies at Leiden Univer- sity. He is also director of the LeidenAsiaCentre belonging to the same university. A medieval historian of Northeast Asia by training, he now also works on contemporary DPRK, particularly on human rights and exile narratives. Christine Chung (HR advisor) is currently Human Rights Officer with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who has previously served as a Senior Advisor to the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and the Political Advisor to the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK. Imke van Gardingen LLM (Employment Law), MA (Korean Studies), is policy advisor on labour migration for the Dutch Federation of Labour Unions (FNV), specializing in international and EU employment law. She coordinates the DPRK Overseas Labour research project. Kim Kwang-cheol is a Visiting Scholar of the College of Police & Criminal Justice at Dongguk University in Seoul after having worked for the South Korean government as a North Korea analyst. He is specialized in the political system of the DPRK and is now active as a scholar work- ing on North Korean issues. Kyuwook Oh LLM (Human Rights Law, Leiden University) is a jour- nalist and researcher. His areas of interest and specializations include human rights in North Korea. Anoma van der Veere (Research MA Asian Studies, Leiden University) is researcher at LeidenAsiaCentre. Specializing in International Relations Theory and Political Economy, he is currently working on policymaking, neo-liberalisation, and individual resistance in East Asia. III Slaves to the System North Korean Forced Labour in the European Union, the Polish Case: How the Supply of a Captive DPRK Workforce Fits Our Demand for Cheap Labour Editors (listed in alphabetical order): Remco Breuker and Imke van Gardingen Contributors (listed in alphabetical order): Marte Boonen, Klara Boonstra, Remco Breuker (P.I.), Christine Chung, Imke van Gardingen, Kim Kwang-cheol, Kyuwook Oh, Anoma van der Veere This publication is part of a series of LeidenAsiaCentre. LeidenAsiaCentre is an independent research centre affiliat- ed with Leiden University. The centre focuses on academic research with high impact on society. All research projects are conducted in close cooperation with a wide variety of aca- demic and non-academic partners. More information on the LeidenAsia Centre at: www.leidenasiacentre.nl For contact or orders: www.leidenasiacentre.nl M. de Vrieshof 3, 2311 BZ Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. ISBN 978-90-826167-0-5 LeidenAsiaCentre Contents Acknowledgements IX FOREWORD by Agnes Jongerius X INTRODUCTORY REMARKS by Kevin Bales XII Preface XIV Introduction 1 1. An Empirical Analysis of the Situation of DPRK 9 Workers Abroad: the Polish Case 2. Human Rights Legal Framework 28 3. DPRK Citizens Working in the EU: 45 The Labour Law Perspective 4. Working Relation between the Hirer and the 58 Worker 5. Exporting the System 76 6. Summing Up 84 7. Recommendations 88 Executive Summary 91 Executive Summary (Korean) 93 Appendix 95 References 104 Index 115 Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the support of our colleagues at LeidenAsiaCentre in making this report possible. The funding for the re- search project also came from LeidenAsiaCentre. Mr Jang Jin-sung 장진성, who heads New Focus (www.newfo- cus.co.kr), has been invaluable in tracking down sources, introducing peo- ple and providing critical information and analysis of the kind that only a former member of the North Korean elite has the ability to do so. Mr Kim Hyeongsoo 김형수, a fellow exile from the DPRK, has also been very helpful by explaining the ins and outs of the North Korean system, in particular the workings of the Central Party organs that oversee foreign trade and foreign money flows. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Mr Kim T’aesan 김태산 and Mr Lim Il 림일, both of whom gave us the benefit of their practical experiences within the North Korean overseas labour system. The same goes for the confidential witnesses, who for reasons of personal security need to remain unnamed. Our gratitude is not less; on the contra- r y. The entire text of the report was read and corrected by Mr Ad van Heeswijk, who was only given the shortest possible time for doing so. That he nonetheless did proofread this report is something for which we feel very grateful. We gladly acknowledge these debts of gratitude. FOREWORD by Agnes Jongerius Tried and tested as I thought I was after more than a quarter century of struggle in the labour movement and in politics, I have been shaken by the revelations brought forward in this report. An autocracy of the worst kind using its own citizens as a kind of slaves in an effort to raise money for weaponry and luxury items for the elite. Despite the difficulty of verifying the numbers, this excellent report shows that it is a problem of unprec- edented magnitude. It concerns tens of thousands, perhaps over hundred thousand, North Korean workers who are exploited in other countries to ensure the survival of a thoroughly rotten regime. This in-depth report, prepared in astonishingly little time by a multidisciplinary team led by Leiden University’s LeidenAsiaCentre, shed a cold light on what has long been hidden. Moreover, it shows that it does not just involve the usual suspects. Of course, most North Korean slaves are being deployed in “friendly” countries such as China and Russia; in itself shocking enough. However, it goes much further than that. Even in democratic countries, themselves signatories of all kinds of noble conven- tions and treaties, these practices occur. Even now North Koreans work in appalling conditions in the European Union itself while their meager remuneration flows directly into the coffers of Pyongyang. The report tells about a North Korean man who, after having worked 12 hours a day, six days a week for years in a Polish shipyard, suc- cumbed to his wounds in a Polish hospital. Burns covered over 95% of his body because his highly inflammable synthetic overalls – cheaper for the bosses – caught in a blaze when he was welding pipes without any super- vision. This and the other stories and testimonies show clearly that not only European legislation, ILO conventions and universal human rights are structurally violated, but that these practices are above all essentially an attack on humanity itself.
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