North Korea’s Public Reporting System Law encourages overseas workers to report their colleagues’ illegal activities, but the system has proven ineffective due to inadequate informant protection and mishandling of reports.
Based on Daily NK’s investigation of Chinese seafood processing plants, while direct phone lines connect factory reporting “boxes” to North Korean authorities like the embassy, workers are unable to safely use these reporting channels.
A source in China told Daily NK recently that a worker at one seafood processing plant in Jilin province “reported illegal behavior in mid-November of last year, but was then sexually assaulted by a manager.” The source said the official who received the report “called the female worker in and blackmailed her, asking how she’d like it if he told her comrades that she was a mole.”
After being labeled a “psychiatric patient” by officials, the worker was forcibly sent back to North Korea. Her case spread through the factory, with coworkers lamenting that she was merely following orders to report issues, only to meet such a fate.
“Workers coerced into becoming informants live under constant threat,” the source told Daily NK. “They’re trapped – reporting colleagues brings punishment, but refusing to report does too. Many women say the stress is unbearable.”
North Korea’s Public Reporting System Law, intended to strengthen internal control, is fundamentally flawed. With inadequate protections for informants, the system leaves them exposed to retaliation and abuse, often resulting in severe human rights violations.
“A reporting system should serve justice and protect public interest,” says Hwang Hyun-uk, senior researcher at Daily NK’s AND Center. “But North Korea has turned it into a tool of surveillance and repression to preserve the regime.”
Authorities prioritize ideological control over informant protection
The system’s flaws are evident in its reward practices – offering gifts or vacations to informants inadvertently reveals their identities. “Despite authorities promising stronger protections this year, people remain fearful of making reports,” the source revealed.
A case in Dandong, Liaoning province late last year illustrates these dangers. After reporting a colleague’s corruption, a worker vanished following separate interrogations by a North Korean embassy security agent. “There was no way for them to face their coworkers after that,” the source explained. “They returned to North Korea soon after, likely struggling with the guilt of becoming an informant.”
Workers also feel a heavy burden due to concern that filing reports will worsen their workplace relations and lead to retaliation.
“People avoid snitching on colleagues even if they see them talking on the phone with outsiders to ask for daily necessities,” the source said. “This could also be because they feel nervous about filing reports, but more importantly, it’s because they fear ruining their relationships with their colleagues.”
The source added, “Since they have to live with these people when they return to North Korea one day, they don’t want to make anyone their enemy.”
“North Korea’s Public Reporting System Law is a means of control that violates the individual’s basic rights and destroys social trust to stabilize the regime,” Hwang said. “The crimes you’re supposed to report are excessively broad, and the law lacks mechanisms to protect identities and secrets, exposing both informants and informees to human rights violations.”
The system violates multiple international laws, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Labour Organization conventions prohibiting compulsory labor conditions.
Forcing workers to inform on colleagues while mismanaging the reporting system creates a toxic work environment of psychological pressure and insecurity, contrary to international labor standards. Yet North Korean authorities remain focused on gathering misconduct reports rather than protecting informant identities and confidentiality.
“The authorities pressure workers preparing to return home to submit more reports,” the source revealed, “bribing them with Chinese yuan or used clothing.” The manipulation extends further – managers not only carelessly expose informants but also use psychological tactics, telling workers that “superiors already know everything” to coerce additional reporting.
North Korean authorities have intensified their reporting demands since amending the Public Reporting System Law to include “reactionary thought and culture” as reportable offenses.
“They’re now fixated on reports about workplace attitudes, unauthorized outings, phone calls, internet use, ideological leanings, suspicious remarks, and complaints,” the source explained. “This has created a tense atmosphere where workers constantly watch each other.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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