The Global Slavery Index 2023

Spotlights 4 

Guardians and Offenders: Examining State-Imposed Forced Labour (Part 3)

​State-imposed forced labour in North Korea 
North Korea’s ostensibly socialist system is upheld by widespread state-imposed forced labour of citizens. Under the authoritarian rule of the Supreme Leader, work is centrally organised and the nature of employment is determined by an archaic social class structure that facilitates forced labour. Forced labour is used as a punishment for expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. It is also used as a method of mobilising labour for the purpose of economic development and as a means of labour discipline. 
 
In 2017, Walk Free and the Leiden Asia Centre interviewed 50 defectors to better understand the reality of modern slavery in North Korea. The study found evidence of forced labour for economic development and abuse of the obligation to perform work beyond normal civic obligations or minor communal services. According to the study, adults and children are forced to work in mandatory, unpaid communal labour, including in agriculture, road building, and construction. For children, this may involve daily or month-long agricultural work under the threat of punishment at school, while adults may be mobilised for “battles” lasting up to 100 days. Those who refuse face deprivation of food rations or further taxes, and bribery is the only escape. Among the general population, workers are paid in rations, if at all, and in many cases workers report paying for their own employment to avoid imprisonment in labour camps, while also trading labour on the black market to survive. 
 
The study also found that pervasive abuse of compulsory prison labour is perpetrated by the state, with recent evidence suggesting this continues. Individuals held in short and long term detention and prison camps are subjected to forced labour under extremely harsh conditions in construction, farming, logging, mining, manufacturing, and other forms of hard labour. This includes individuals detained for being unemployed or absent from work, and those sentenced for “crimes” such as receiving unauthorized information and exercising other human rights, which are heavily suppressed in North Korea. In 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the level of control, physical and psychological abuse, cruelty, and hard labour within the prison system may amount to the crimes against humanity. North Koreans are also sent abroad to work in sectors such as construction, where they remain subject to threats of severe punishment for non-compliance or political opposition. 
 
North Korean women and girls additionally risk being forced into sexual slavery by officials of various ranks, including the Supreme Leader himself. Further, the state’s control of resources contributes to widespread starvation and malnutrition, which spurs vulnerability to other forms of modern slavery, such as trafficking for forced marriage.
 
Walk Free 2023. Global Slavery Index 2023. Minderoo Foundation Ltd. Australia.