Country: China

Group: Koreans

Date Finalized: 12/4/20

Team: Rayna Castillo (lead), Abi Pentecost, Nusrat Nijum

Content Warning: forced labor; sexual assault; human trafficking; abduction

Approximate Time Period: 1930-1945, 2010-present

          There is evidence with a data quality rated as 2 that suggests forced labor of Chinese Koreans. Chinese Koreans make up less than 1% of the Chinese population (Kim, 2003). They migrated to China fairly recently, primarily moving between 1850 and 1945 (Kim, 2003). Japanese invasion and colonial rule in the late 1930s served as one of the main drivers for this surge in migration (Kim, 2003). During the second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese occupation of northeast China and Korea in the 20th century forced Chinese Koreans to work in mines and factories up until the Japanese were forced out of China in 1945 (Hays, 2015; Sang-Hun, 2015). An estimated 1.2 million of Koreans living in China, Korea, and Japan were subjected to these conditions (Sang-Hun, 2015). More recently, it also appears that traffickers kidnap, sell, and force North Korean migrants and asylum seekers to work in brothels, night clubs, factories, and other industries (US Department of State, 2019). In addition, the North Korean government, with possible knowledge of Chinese officials, subject North Koreans to forced labor in hotel, restaurant and cyber jobs (US Department of State, 2019). Ultimately, there is sufficient evidence of forced labor of the Chinese Koreans, both historically and currently.

Sources

  1. United States Department of State (2019). China. Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report-2/china/
  2. Hays, J. (2015, June). Ethnic Koreans in China. Facts and Details. Retrieved November 20, 2020, from http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat5/sub88/entry-4359.html
  3. Kim, S.J. (2003). The economic status and role of ethnic Koreans in China. In C.F. Bergsten & I. Ch’oe (Eds.), The Korean diaspora in the world economy. (pp. 101-130). Institute for International Economics.
  4. Sang-Hun, C. (2015, November 4). Remains of Nearly 2,750 Korean Wartime Laborers Found in Japan, South Says (Published 2015). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/05/world/asia/south-korea-forced-war-laborers-japan-world-war-ii.html