For subscribers
News analysis
Rare unrest among North Korean workers in China a sign of regime’s weakening grip?
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
The North Korean workers were said to have been enraged over unpaid wages, poor working and living conditions, and even abuse by the employers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SEOUL – Discontent among North Korean workers dispatched by the government to work in China has boiled over, putting the totalitarian state’s history of human rights abuses in the spotlight once again and prompting observers to consider the potential consequences for Pyongyang.
A violent riot by 2,000 North Korean factory workers reportedly broke out on Jan 11 in China’s north-eastern Jilin province. It lasted four days and saw at least one North Korean official killed and three other officials seriously injured.
