Mick Hartley

The Daily NK on the business of recruiting young women to work in Chinese factories.

South Pyongan province in North Korea has begun selecting workers to be dispatched to China following orders from the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

A source in the province told Daily NK recently that the order, issued by the Central Committee early this month, makes clear that the Workers’ Party of Korea is directly involved in the selection process.

The order states that the main candidates for selection at seafood processing and textile factories in China are unmarried women aged 19–23.

“The province is currently taking a very methodical approach to selecting people to be dispatched overseas. The six criteria for selection are health, loyalty to the Party, consistently demonstrating a hard-working attitude, impeccable character as a woman, feminine appearance and technical knowledge,” the source said.

You’d think they were applying for diplomatic posts in the foreign service, or high-ranking teaching jobs in prestigious Chinese universities. In fact they’re going to work at the absolute worst jobs, in enclosed factories for long hours, gutting fish or making wigs. They likely won’t be allowed out – straight from the factory bench to their dorms – and most of their miserable wages will go straight to Pyongyang. It’s little better than slave labour.

As the youth league branches rush to make recommendations, the family background and ideological commitment of candidates are being carefully scrutinized as well.

Since the selection of workers for overseas assignments was ordered by the Central Committee, youth league branches are excluding women from families that might be categorized as “impure elements,” the source explained.

Once the list is finalized, candidates will undergo group physical exams through December at designated hospitals in Pyongsong and various counties.

After being placed in a pool of potential overseas workers, candidates will be admitted to “ideological study groups” for instruction in the diplomatic activities of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“The ideological study sessions focus on teaching workers that going overseas is not merely about earning money but about embodying the will of Kim Jong Un for the world to see. Workers are given extensive loyalty training, including warnings about what will happen if they behave disloyally overseas,” the source explained.