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North Korean workers at Kaesong show symptoms of exposure to toxic chemicals …

including benzene. If you wonder why people such as myself rail against slave labor and the lack of labor rights at Kaesong, this is why. A real independent union would have stood up for the workers and raised this issue long ago. I can’t say I have much confidence in the desire of either of the governments involved — much less the employers — to tell the truth about the exposure of help the victims; after all, that wouldn’t serve the financial or political interests. People go into North Korea full of promises to change its system. North Korea’s system always changes them instead.

The natural default candidate to advocate for these workers would be South Korean unions. Sadly, South Korea’s largest labor group behaves like Pyongyang’s wholly owned subsidiary.

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Update: More here, via AFP. And according to this article, Kaesong is suffering from deteriorating facilities, nervousness by potential investors, and (surprisingly) labor shortages. Why? Despite the high premiums the regime extracts from South Korean investors, the regime is increasingly renting out its workers to Chinese factories instead. According to the article, however, the regime can’t raise those premiums even more because Kaesong labor already costs more than it does in Southeast Asia. Interesting.

6 Responses

  3. I’m not her constituent and I didn’t endorse her. You endorsed her challenge to an incumbent who has a good record on your single issue.

  4. No, I endorsed Suzanne because she is the best candidate on my single issue, and the best candidate there will ever be on that issue. I also support the right of workers to organize for safe working conditions. I did not endorse the political views of every labor union, which should have been clear when I singled out the KCTU for being Kim Jong Un’s lapdog. I don’t know Suzanne’s views on card checks, but I’m confident that she doesn’t want North Korean workers (or any other) to have to breathe benzene.

  5. I know you don’t support a labor union which fronts for tyranny; I let that go without saying. On the other hand, I’m not aware of any evidence that Suzanne would support a strike over benzene vapor in the workplace, nor am I aware of any evidence that she’d support laws and regulations against benzene vapor in the workplace, which would, after all, impose a burden on job creators and increase the power of the government.