As the leaders of North Korea and China hold summit talks in Pyeongyang, a new U.S. report places North Korea and China among the world's worst offenders of human rights.
The State Department's Trafficking in Persons report was released Thursday.
North Korea has made the list for the 17th year on the list of 21 Tier-3 countries.
Lee Seung-jae has the details.
In the annual Trafficking in Persons Report released by the U.S. State Department on Thursday,... the U.S. designated North Korea as one of the worst human trafficking nations for the 17th consecutive year.
The report details abuses by the Pyeongyang government, including its forced mobilization of adults and school children to work in factories and other sectors, and its "egregious human rights violations" that "can fuel trafficking in neighboring China."
The designation was given due to the fact that North Korea does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.
The report added the government continues state-sponsored human trafficking through forced labor in mass mobilizations of adults and children, in prison camps as part of an established system of political repression, in labor training centers, and through its exportation of forced labor to foreign companies.
During the report's launch ceremony on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the regime,... saying Pyeongyang subjects its own citizens to forced labor both at home and abroad and then uses proceeds to fund what he called "nefarious activities".
Along with North Korea,... the State Department's latest report also named China, Iran and Russia, among other nations in the lowest Tier 3 category.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.