2024 Helong North Korean migrant workers unrest

In mid-February 2024, there were reports of a similar work stoppage in the Chinese border city of Dandong, with North Korean workers demanding to return home.

[1] According to Urbina, due to fees and managers keeping some of the money for themselves, workers typically take home less than ten percent of what they were promised in their contract.

[4] The American news magazine Newsweek, which described the protests as a "wage strike", reported workers at roughly 15 garment factories in the region were owed approximately US$10 million in backpay for between four and seven years of labor.

[2] Per the newspaper, some of the migrant workers had been in China for several years, as they were unable to return to North Korea due to border lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[3] In a statement to Reuters regarding the unrest, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said, "Various incidents and accidents have been happening due to poor living conditions of North Korean workers dispatched overseas, so we are checking on related movements", offering no further clarification.

[3] Workers proceeded to destroy factory equipment, including kitchen utensils and sewing machines,[1] and take several managers and North Korean officials hostage,[10] additionally subjecting them to physical assault.

[3][8] North Korean authorities at the Chinese consulate responded by sending members of the Ministry of State Security and secret police officers, though workers barred them from entering the factory.

[3] In mid-February, Cho reported that there had been claims of a similar work stoppage in Dandong, with the North Korean workers there demanding a return to their home country.

[6] In their coverages of the incidents, both Reuters and Newsweek reported that they were unable to independently verify Cho's claims, citing the difficulty in getting information regarding North Korean migrant workers in China.

[5][9] According to the news magazine, the earliest reports of unrest among factory workers in the region stemmed from an interview Ko gave earlier in the month with the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun.

[5] However, Peter Jung, the head of the Justice for North Korea rights group, disputed these claims, telling NK News that he had received confirmation from local workers in the region and public security authorities that no violent protests had occurred.

[9] Discussing the matter, Jae-Pyoung Seo, the director of the Association of North Korean Defectors, stated that it was possible that the protests had occurred as reported by Cho and Ko, citing previous incidents of wage disputes going back several years regarding migrant workers in China, as well as recent discussions on Jilin websites about the "wage arrears" among an unspecified group of migrant workers.