N.Koreans Toil for Global Clothing Labels in China

North Korean workers are toiling for Chinese factories that make clothes for global labels like Ralph Lauren and Burberry, Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday.

One of their employers is Mei Dao Garment in Hebei Province, a source told the radio station.

Mei Dao first employed 54 North Korean workers via a North Korean trading company from January to July 2012. In April last year it also established another firm in Dandong, Miryong Garment, as a joint venture with another North Korean company.

Mei Dao now employs hundreds of North Koreans, according to the source.

Garment maker Phoenix Gold in Dandong also employs about 1,200 workers, and 800 of them are from North Korea, the source added.

An increasing number of Chinese clothing companies in the border region are employing cheap North Korean workers, who are typically not free to come and go and see almost none of their wages.

Concerns are growing that the money is used by the North Korean regime to develop nuclear weapons and missiles or to fund the repressive security forces.