Correspondence
Email sent to the communications team at Pacific Seafood Group.
The email said: "We’re contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry, specifically North Korean workers in Chinese plants. We have investigators on the ground in China who have been engaging with labor brokers directly involved with the transfer of North Korean workers to factories in China. Through this and other investigative means, including collecting online footage from the plants and interviews with workers recently returned to North Korea from China, we’ve found large numbers of North Korean workers at a range of seafood processing plants in Dandong city, close to China’s border with North Korea. As part of this work, we have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. in Dandong. According to trade records, Pacific Seafood Group was the consignee for shipments of seafood from Dalian Haiqing between September 2017 and January 2024. The use of North Korean workers was prohibited by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, with Resolution 2397. Furthermore, under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed in 2017, the United States prohibits the import of any goods produced by North Korean nationals. Like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which pertains to Xinjiang labor, CAATSA has a "rebuttable presumption" whereby all North Korean workers are presumed to be state-sponsored forced labor. As a result, we have several questions: 1) While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Pacific Seafood Group has any comment about this information that we are presenting? 2) Can you please itemize for us which of your customers receive seafood tied to Dalian Haiqing? 3) Has Pacific Seafood Group conducted any social audits at this plant and if so what type, when, with what result, and were these audits unannounced? 4) If audits were indeed conducted at this plant, what - if any - language or process was included in those audits specifically to identify the presence of North Korean workers?"
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: “We haven’t heard back from you on this and wanted to see if you had any response at this time. To clarify, we are referring to a collection of plants at or near this location: Name: Dalian Haiqing Food (大连海青水产有限公司) Address: Floor 1-3, No. 9, Section 2, Jianshe Street, Zhuanghe City, Dalian, Liaoning Province (辽宁省 大连庄河市新华街道小寺委建设大街二段9号1-3层) We are aware that Dalian Haiqing Food has several plants under its umbrella at this general location.”
Lacy Ogan, Director of Communications at Pacific Seafood, replied: “Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. The first email did not come through on our end so I apologize for the lack of response. Our team takes this very seriously and has begun looking into it. If you can give us a little additional time, that would be much appreciated. I am committed to getting you a response no later than Wednesday (1/24) morning. Thank you.”
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thanks for your email. That extension is ok with us, we look forward to hearing from Pacific Seafood tomorrow."
Lacy Ogan, Director of Communications at Pacific Seafood, replied: "Thank you again for bringing this to our attention as Pacific Seafood is strongly committed to human rights, ethical business practices, and the highest possible quality for our products. Pacific Seafood does not use any facilities in Dandong City to produce any products and does not utilize any facilities using North Korean labor. According to our information, Dalian Haiqing Food does not have any facilities in Dandong City. We would welcome any information you have to share that may show otherwise."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thanks for your email. I refer you to our email dated January 22, 2024, which you replied to and sought additional time for Pacific Seafood’s response. It clarified that our query is in reference to a collection of plants at or near this location:- Name: Dalian Haiqing Food (大连海青水产有限公司) Address: Floor 1-3, No. 9, Section 2, Jianshe Street, Zhuanghe City, Dalian, Liaoning Province (辽宁省大连庄河市新华街道小寺委建设大街二段9号1-3层) We are aware that Dalian Haiqing has several plants under its umbrella at this general location. We have the following outstanding questions for Pacific Seafood: Can you please itemize for us which of your customers receive seafood tied to Dalian Haiqing? Has Pacific Seafood Group conducted any social audits of Dalian Haiqing’s facilities and if so what type, when, with what result, and were these audits unannounced? If audits were indeed conducted at Haiqing’s facilities, what - if any - language or process was included in those audits specifically to identify the presence of North Korean workers? We very much appreciate Pacific Seafood’s ongoing engagement on this. Please let us know the answers to the above by close of business tomorrow (January 25, 2024)."
Pacific Seafood replied: "I appreciate the response. We are aware of the Dalian Haiqing facility you reference below located in Zhuanghe City. However, the facility you allege uses North Korean labor is located in Dandong. We are not aware of any Dalian Haiqing facility located in Dandong. Can you please provide the address of the facility located in Dandong as well as any supporting evidence you have of the North Korean labor activity? We take this incredibly seriously and this information will allow us to continue the investigation on our end."
The Outlaw Ocean Project responded: "The evidence we have gathered concerns Dalian Haiqing’s facilities in Zhuanghe City in Dalian, not in Dandong. We have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food’s facilities in Dalian. One of our investigators visited this site, and another communicated with North Korean workers ███ these facilities. North Korean women ████ have described in writing to us at The Outlaw Ocean Project a number of serious issues, including sexual abuse and forced prostitution. We also corresponded with a plant manager from Haiqing who ████ the North Korean workers. The information we have from our on-the-ground investigation is that North Koreans have been working at Haiqing’s facilities since at least 2021. Given the sensitive nature of these issues, and the safety concerns we have for our sources on the ground, we request that none of this information is relayed to any Haiqing staff or other persons in China. If such details are conveyed back to China, there will likely be an attempt to identify who visited the plant on our behalf and/or who presently works there and communicated with us. Thanks again for your continued engagement on this matter."
Lacy Ogan replied for Pacific Seafood: "Thank you for the information and we respect your request. With the clarification on the facility and further detail our team is now able to investigate more thoroughly. This is a top priority, and will take some time on our end, but we will provide you with updates as soon as we can. Any further evidence you are able to provide would be incredibly helpful, so please let us know if there are measures we could take to assure you that information would not be disclosed to Dalian Haiqing. We appreciated your continued willingness to work with us on this."