2,000 North Korean Workers Angry Over Wage Arrears Occupy Chinese Factory

About 2,000 North Korean workers dispatched to China protested wage arrears by occupying a factory and assaulting a management representative, who died as a result.

According to North Korean sources cited by Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun on the 17th, approximately 2,000 workers sent by a trade company under the North Korean Ministry of Defense occupied a medical manufacturing and seafood processing factory in Helong (和龍) City, Jilin Province, northeastern China, on the 11th of last month.

Train entering China from North Korea. [Photo by Yonhap News]

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The North Korean workers, many of whom were former female soldiers in their 20s, angry over long-term wage arrears, took the dispatched management representatives and supervisors from North Korea hostage and declared a strike until they received their wages.

The North Korean authorities mobilized consular officials and State Security Department agents to manage the situation, but the workers blocked their access to the factory. The riot continued until the 14th of the same month, and the management representative held hostage was beaten by the workers and died.

The riot began after news spread that fellow workers who had returned to North Korea last year had not received their wages. North Korean workers dispatched to Jilin Province typically receive a monthly salary of 700 to 1,000 yuan (approximately 130,000 to 190,000 KRW), but all of this was reportedly confiscated by the North Korean company, causing the discontent to explode.

Generally, the North Korean company receives 2,500 to 2,800 yuan (approximately 460,000 to 520,000 KRW) per person per month from the Chinese company. From this, 800 yuan per month is deducted for room and board, and 1,000 yuan per month goes to the trade company, leaving the worker with 700 to 1,000 yuan.

However, the North Korean trade company that dispatched the workers who instigated the riot is said to have confiscated the entire amount of the workers' wages under the pretext of "war preparation funds" since the border between North Korea and China was closed in 2020 due to COVID-19 measures.

The North Korean authorities appeased the workers by paying the overdue wages and identified about 200 workers who led the riot, sending about half of them back to North Korea. Sources expect these individuals to be sent to political prison camps and severely punished.

The incident was reported to Chairman Kim Jong-un, shocking the North Korean leadership.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service is reported to have identified the large-scale collective protest of North Korean workers in Jilin Province, but China has not confirmed the veracity of these claims.

Meanwhile, although the overseas dispatch of North Korean workers violates United Nations Security Council resolutions, about 90,000 North Korean workers are known to remain in China, Russia, the Middle East, and Africa due to border closures caused by COVID-19.

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