North Korean trading companies are openly demanding that Chinese factories employing North Korean workers provide them with “voluntary contributions” in the form of money or rice, a reporting partner in China told Daily NK on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The North Korean government ordered the trading companies to start making the demands, the reporting partner said.
In fact, many Chinese factories that hire North Korean workers, including manufacturing sites producing clothing, batteries and frozen food, have received these demands from North Korean trading companies, he said.
The reporting partner explained that North Korean trading companies are calling the payments “voluntary contributions,” and are demanding that the Chinese companies pay at least RMB 50 (USD 7.26) per worker.
That means that factories employing 200 North Korean workers would have to pay a total of RMB 10,000 (around USD 1,450).
“By directly demanding contributions from Chinese factories employing North Korean workers, North Korea is telling them to express how sincere they are about continuing to receive cheap labor,” the reporting partner said.
Chinese factories are required to pay wages of RMB 8,000 to 12,000 (around USD 1,161 to 1,451) a month to Chinese workers, along with social insurance costs. In contrast, North Korean workers at Chinese contract manufacturing factories receive just RMB 2,300 to 2,500 (around USD 333 to 363) a month, though wages differ somewhat depending on workload and skills.
Chinese factories requiring cheap labor prefer hiring North Korean workers because they cost around a quarter of what Chinese workers do.
The recent increase in the price of raw materials has also meant that Chinese factories are interested in hiring cheap North Korean workers to reduce labor costs.
North Korea’s government appears happy to take advantage of this situation by boldly and openly demanding contributions from factories employing North Korean workers, the reporting partner claimed.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397, which was adopted in 2017, called for the repatriation of North Korean workers by December 2019. However, North Korea is still earning foreign exchange through wages earned by its workers overseas.
In November 2022, Daily NK reported that an estimated 80,000 North Korean workers reside in Dandong, the largest Chinese city bordering North Korea.
Last year, North Korea concluded an agreement with Chinese companies to replace workers and boost wages, which suggests that a new batch of North Korean workers will be dispatched to China soon.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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