Riots Erupt as North Korean Workers Protest Unpaid Wages in Chinese Factory Takeover

It has been reported that an incident occurred last month where 2,000 North Korean workers dispatched to China protested against wage defaults, occupied a factory, and, during the protest, assaulted a managerial staff, leading to his death.

According to Yomiuri’s report on the 17th, approximately 2,000 workers dispatched by a trading company under the North Korean Ministry of National Defense occupied a medical manufacturing and seafood processing factory in Heilongjiang, Jilin Province, northeastern China, on the 11th of last month.

The North Korean workers, angered by the long-term wage defaults, took the managerial staff and surveillance agents dispatched from North Korea as hostages, declaring they would strike until they received their wages. The North Korean authorities attempted to resolve the situation by mobilizing consuls and state security agents, but the workers blocked their entry into the factory and continued the riot.

The riot continued until the 14th of the same month, and the managerial staff taken hostage was assaulted by the workers and died.

Yomiuri reported it as “the first large-scale protest initiated by North Korea’s foreign dispatched workers,” highlighting “the emergence of the consciousness of resistance among North Korean youths who refuse to accept the slave-like conditions.”

North Korea attempted to appease the workers by paying overdue wages, while it identified and repatriated about half of the workers who led the riots back to North Korea.

This incident was reported to Chairman Kim Jong Un, and it is reported that the North Korean leadership acknowledges its gravity, actively contemplating potential countermeasures.

The overseas deployment of North Korean workers is a violation of the UN Security Council resolution. However, due to the border closure prompted by COVID-19, it is estimated that about 90,000 North Korean workers still remain in China, Russia, the Middle East, and other countries.