Customs and Border Protection confiscates merchandise made with North Korean labor
Brady Knox
Video Embed
Customs and Border Protection announced that it confiscated merchandise made with North Korean labor.
The confiscations are an enforcement of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which prevents products that utilize North Korean labor from being sold in the United States. The goods of several Chinese companies were seized in a U.S. port on Dec. 5 after it was found that they had used North Korean labor.
FLOCK OF BIRDS FLYING NEAR SOUTH KOREA MISTAKEN FOR ANOTHER NORTH KOREAN DRONE
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began detaining merchandise produced or manufactured by Jingde Trading Ltd., Rixin Foods. Ltd., and Zhejiang Sunrise Garment Group Co. Ltd. at all U.S. ports of entry on Dec. 5, 2022. This enforcement action is the result of a CBP investigation which found that these companies use North Korean labor in their supply chains in violation of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA),” a press release from CBP read.
The release indicates that “CAATSA prohibits the entry of goods, wares, and articles mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in party by North Korean nationals or North Korean citizens anywhere in the world, unless clear and convincing evidence is provided that such goods were not made with convict labor, forced labor, or indentured labor under penal sanctions. Pursuant to CAATSA, CBP will detain merchandise from these entities at all U.S. ports of entry unless there is clear and convincing evidence that forced labor was not present at any stage of the production process.”
A statement from CBP Office of Trade Executive Assistant Commissioner AnnMarie R. Highsmith justified the confiscation by claiming that goods produced with North Korean labor are invariably produced through slave labor, which the U.S. cannot morally allow.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“CBP is committed to keeping America’s supply chains free of goods produced with forced labor and to eliminating this horrific practice,” she said. “North Korea’s forced labor system operates both domestically and internationally and supports the North Korean Government’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, and it is also a major human rights violation. Legally and morally, we cannot allow these goods into our commerce.”