Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for Powell's Supermarket.
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 Liaoning province, on China’s border with North Korea.
We have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. in Liaoning.
According to trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project, Aqua Star was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood from Dalian Haiqing between 2017 and 2023.
The use of overseas North Korean workers was prohibited by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, with Resolution 2397 setting a deadline of December 2019 for the repatriation of all such workers to North Korea. 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 unless clear and convincing evidence is provided that indicates the materials were not made with forced labor.
Powell’s Supermarket stocks Aqua Star products (for example, pink salmon fillets).
In light of the above, we have some questions for you:
- While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Powell’s Supermarket has any comment to make in response to this email?
- Can you confirm or deny if Powell’s Supermarket has been supplied any products from Dalian Haiqing, via Aqua Star or any other supplier?"