It’s slavery

The July 2 article “China hires tens of thousands of North Korean guest workers” needs clarification. This is not a case of China “hiring” employees. The North Koreans are not “guest workers.” The North Korean government is selling its only resource – its people – to the Chinese government because it needs cash.

Quotes from the article: “Most of the workers’ earnings will go directly to the communist North Korean regime.” “Under the new arrangement, each North Korean worker should bring Pyongyang cash remittances of about $2,000 per year. Out of salaries of $200-$300 per month, workers are likely to keep less than $50.”

This is modern-day slavery and the legal name for it is human trafficking. Please join me in calling on U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan to insist that Congress and/or the State Department take action to stop the open slave trade between North Korea and China.

Both of our senators have co-sponsored the Trafficking Victims Protection Re-authorization Act, so we know they are abolitionists. Hopefully, with their aggressive support, the TVPRA will come to a vote and be passed soon. As Mathatma Gandhi is credited with saying, “No one is free while others are oppressed.”

Pam Strickland

Founder, Eastern N.C. Stop Human Trafficking Now

Farmville