The next time you make a purchase at Walmart, you might want to think it over. Americans were truly unaware that whenever they buy seafood for dinner, they may have financially supported Kim Jong-un’s regime and its nuclear missiles program, USA Today reported. And worse, their purchases could mean a support to forced labor among North Koreans.
Newsweek reports that Kim Jong-un’s regime outsourced quite a number of North Koreans to work in Chinese seafood processing companies. On a daily basis, these ardent workers would wake up very early on metal bunk beds in Chinese dormitories.
They would spend their entire day, processing seafood that ended up in stores like Walmart as well as in homes in the United States, Eater reported.
An inconvenient truth
Approximately 3,000 individuals from Kim’s regime were sent to work in Hunchun, located a few miles from the borders of Russia and North Korea, The Star reported. With privacy strictly forbidden, these workers would hardly ever leave their compound unless permitted. They could not make any telephone calls or email. And when going to the factories, they would either walk in pairs or groups. And to ensure that nobody would go astray, the workers were closely watched by North Korean minders. The worst part could be the payment they received.
These North Korean workers would only get a small percentage of their wages, while 70 percent of their salaries would be taken by Kim Jong-un's regime, Associated Press reported.
Evidently, North Korean workers brought in an estimated revenue between $200 million and $500 million annually. That very large sum could definitely account for a substantial portion of Kim’s nuclear weapons programs, which according to South Korean authorities would cost over $1 billion, Associated Press reported.
Walmart and ALDI’s indirect collaboration to North Korea
Reading between the lines, Americans who bought salmon for dinner at ALDI or Walmart unintentionally subsidized the development of nuclear weapons in Kim Jong-un’s communist regime. And what was more horrible was the inadvertent support they gave to “modern day slavery.”
On the other hand, under a law signed by President Trump, all American companies are strictly prohibited to import products made by workers from North Korea.
Violators could face grievous criminal charges for materially benefiting from the work of North Koreans.
Moreover, all Western companies that are involved said they would probe the matter. But some companies asserted that they had already cut off ties with Chinese suppliers, Associated Press reported.
