Tag Archives: North Korea
Experts: Americans are eating fish processed by slaves
North Korean and Uyghur slaves are processing seafood for Chinese companies that export to the United States, experts and lawmakers told Congress on Tuesday, with customs officials struggling to identify and keep the tainted fish off Americans’ plates. The experts told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that even U.S. military caterers were buying fish caught or processed by laborers trapped in jobs from which they cannot escape and who are seldom paid a living wage. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey and the chair of the committee, said there was ample evidence China-based companies are “exploiting the forced labor of Uyghurs and North Koreans” to undercut international competitors, including in the United States. “From fish sticks to calamari, these products infiltrate the supply chains of major restaurants, wholesalers, and even find their way into the meals served in American schools and military bases,” he said, adding that it violated laws like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. >>click to read<< 16:03
North Korean fishing trawler presumed scrapped returns from the dead
A large North Korean fishing vessel supposedly scrapped years ago reappeared last month, state media showed, renewing uncertainty over just how well ship trackers can monitor the country’s commercial fleet. The ship in question is the Sam Chon Li 1, a 3,800-ton trawler that last broadcast over its automatic identification system (AIS) in late 2018 with an unknown destination, according to maritime intelligence platform MarineTraffic. Records show the ship is either “decommissioned or lost,” suggesting it had been scrapped. But KCTV footage from late last month appears to show a fully intact Sam Chon Li 1 docked at Sinpho,,, >click to read< 21:48
Heard of this Secret Armada? In the Russian exclusive economic zone, a secret war is going on.
Every year thousands of makeshift North Korean boats invade the waters of Japan and Russia to strip their seas of fish. In a desperate bid for hard cash, and to feed his people, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is forcing his fleets further out to sea to illegally fish, breaking United Nations sanctions. It’s risky business with voyages often resulting in death for the North Korean fisherman. Far out to sea in the Russian exclusive economic zone, a secret war is going on. The Russian coastguard is stepping up its operations against the North Korean armada. >click to read< 14:21
Smuggled North Korea Clams Show China’s Struggle to Stop Kim
In the fishing grounds where the Yalu River opens up to the Yellow Sea, Chinese and North Korean trawlers intermingle as they search for crabs, conch and yellow clams. Drifting among them are Chinese boats called “mother ships” that act as floating middlemen, offering dollars, renminbi and even goods like cigarettes for the latest catch, according to traders who have been aboard the vessels. One of them, who called himself Mr. Du, said the seafood is then taken ashore to China and sold in wholesale markets, where it all gets mixed together. The practice is just one form of smuggling along China’s 1,350-kilometer (840-mile) border with North Korea, roughly the distance from Paris to Rome. Locals use boats, cars, trucks and several rail lines to carry everything from diesel fuel to silkworms to cell phones back and forth across the Yalu. click here to read the story 12:32
