The North Korean regime routinely exports labour in order to generate revenue, which is suspected in part to fund its nuclear programmes.1 It is accused of “systematically requir[ing] forced, uncompensated labour from much of its population to sustain its economy”.2 As such, the use of North Korean labour outside of the country is outlawed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council, and international actors such as the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (USA) have also developed legal frameworks to prevent goods produced by North Koreans from entering their supply chains.

China is a key destination for North Korean labour, with the country believed to host as many as 100,000 North Korean workers.3 Recent investigations have identified the use of North Koreans in Chinese seafood processing plants, from which products were then sold to the EU and the USA.4 This occurs within the context of broader concerns around the activities of China’s global fishing operations, in which illegal fishing, human rights abuses and the use of forced labour are systemic.5 For instance, a recent report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) that focused on Chinese vessels in the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) – the fishing ground for the vessels detailed in this report – identified 177 suspected or confirmed offences of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing or human rights abuses (67 of which related to IUU fishing, 18 human rights abuses and 92 both) on 71 vessels operating in the region between 2017 and 2023.6

EJF investigators conducted interviews with Indonesian and Filipino crew members who had worked on board Chinese tuna longliners in the Indian Ocean between March 2019 and June 2024. These interviews, alongside additional intelligence gained through open sources and multimedia evidence provided by crew, indicate that North Korean citizens were working on board these longliners – likely in breach of UN sanctions. Press reports7 also allege that Mauritian authorities detained six North Korean workers in December 2022 when a Chinese fishing vessel docked at Port Louis, Mauritius.8 This briefing presents the findings of this investigation, as well as summarising some of the key legal frameworks developed to prevent the use of North Korean labour, and any associated trade in seafood. Beyond this, it also summarises the alleged IUU fishing and human rights abuses associated with these vessels, and the broader Chinese longline fleet operating in the SWIO, before presenting suspected supply chain links to the EU, the UK and key markets in Asia.

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