Companies are Now Using North Korean Slave Labor to Make Products

[JCMach1]

North Korean regime 'propped up' by Edinburgh Woolen Mill sweatshop deal

THE Edinburgh Woollen Mill have been exposed for using North Korean sweatshop labour to make their clothes.

The cashmere knitwear, labelled "Designed in Scotland", is made by Mongolian firm Eermel, who employ 80 North Korean women in work gangs.

Eermel have admitted paying part of these workers' wages to Kim Jong-il's government - helping to prop up the hardline regime...

The North Korean workers are based at a factory in Ulan Bator, where they are overseen by officials from their country.

The EWM deal was exposed by a BBC Newsnight investigation.

David Woods, a manager at the Eermel factory, told the programme: "We're very proud to be working with Edinburgh Woollen Mill. They joined us about five years ago."

Woods, who has now left the company, said the North Koreans were "well looked after".

He added: "They're hard workers. They don't complain and they get stuck in. They're quite skilled.

"They have a dormitory, they have food, they have showers, they have a television."... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/10/15/north-korean-regime-propped-up-by-edinburgh-woolen-mill-sweatshop-deal-86908-23490217/


And their salary goes directly to the North Korean embassy.

Might be time to investigate what American companies are taking advantage of this setup.

[gateley]

1. God. Is there no end what we will do to people for the love of a dollar?

Greed is greed, it knows no nationality or ethnicity.

[Initech]

14. I'm becoming more and more convinced that greed is a disease.

With no cure at that. I think greed needs to be treated as an addiction to money the way we treat alcoholism and cocaine addiction.

You might want to see this Bill Maher new rule ("On second thought, maybe greed isn't good):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT7lb0MOyTY

[gateley]

19. Don't know if you read this on DU, so here's the link --

"Dangerously Addictive" -- how when we get x, we want a bigger X, then y, then...

Sounds like a disease to me. Definitely sounds like addiction,.

http://www.postcarbon.org/article/57381-dangerously-addictive

Going to check out Maher now -- thanks!

[Romulox]

2. Chinese slave labor = OK, North Korean slave labor = Oh Noes???

:shrug:

[JCMach1]

3. This company's product say 'Designed in Scotland'

and nothing about where the woolies are manufactured.

Big difference between this setup and China- Salary goes to the embassy while family lives back home in the gulag... :(

[Romulox]

5. Apple crap says "Designed in California". And? nt

[JCMach1]

6. Only sucks less because the Chinese workers get some cash...

The British manager sounds like a 19th Century slave owner talking about his happy comfortable slaves down on the plantation... :grr:

Watch the BBC report if you can...

[Romulox]

10. Agreed. My point is that when we buy into the logic of slavery, the rest is just negotiation

over the specifics...

[JCMach1]

16. Most of us ARE just wage slaves

we just haven't gotten the message yet.

So, yeah, exactly...

[Selatius]

17. It sounds like welfare capitalism that was used by coalmine and railroad barons of the 1800s.

The Ludlow Massacre only happened because the company had total control over their lives, and the workers rebelled in the end. The company owned the store and the housing and the land, and those workers who questioned management were typically evicted without notice, and many who were evicted decided to live in tents on company land out of protest and desperation. Many people were killed.

[DJ13]

9. Theres a desperate need for country of manufacture disclosure laws

That would be a real eye opener for most people, and I would add I mean an international disclosure law.

[aquart]

15. Let us start with demanding anything sold here have origin labels.

And that might mean many more than one label. AND I DON'T CARE. I WANT TO KNOW.

[JCMach1]

18. exactly...

[Marrah_G]

4. They all suck

[JCMach1]

8. Completely...

[snagglepuss]

11. Where do you see that?

[Romulox]

20. It's context based on the reality that China, known user of slave labor, is one of the US' top

trading partners. :hi:

[Lionessa]

7. The subjects of our enemies are our slaves. We should be their saviors but instead

we virtually guarantee slavery of the citizens we supposedly want freed from oppression.

[woo me with science]

12. Continue enabling corporations, and we will all end up as slaves.

We are already hamsters in the wheel. Hours are being extended, benefits cut, and workers stretched to cover what two employees used to do.

Remember the "jobs" proposal to have people work for free, in order to get "training"?

Wait until every single one of us can no longer pay our debts. What solutions do you think our owners will propose, to allow us to pay them back without money?

[Amonester]

13. With $muck$ like this everywhere, this planet is doomed.

Doomed, I tell ya.

[Quantess]

21. Another point to consider:

if this is how the human workers are exploited, imagine how the sheep have to live!