Recently The New York Times reported the following:
Videos Show Chinese Businesses Hawking North Korean Labor
On social media, Chinese entrepreneurs are touting cheap
labor across the border, as trade between the two countries regains momentum.
The NYT - By Jiawei Wang and Choe Sang-Hun - Reporting from
Seoul
June 8, 2026
Quick deliveries of large orders for stuffed toys, fake
eyelashes and crocheted bags that are made with cheap labor, including some
workers who are on the job for 16 hours straight.
This is the pitch some Chinese businesses are making on social media to potential customers. But the products they are selling are made in North Korea, like in this video of a wig factory.
In the posts, which have proliferated in recent years, some Chinese entrepreneurs say that they own factories in North Korea and openly share contact information, splashing their account handles on videos of their products — in a clear violation of sweeping U.N. Security Council sanctions that bar nations from running “joint ventures or cooperative entities” in North Korea.
The videos have been viewed tens of thousands of times and offer a rare glimpse into factory life in North Korea. They are also a sign of the renewed ties between the neighbors — official trade between the countries has jumped recently and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday for a summit with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un.
The New York Times reviewed 34 social media accounts and over 400 posts that promoted goods made in North Korean factories on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, and Xiaohongshu, which is also known as Red Note. The Times used satellite imagery and other online footage to verify where the videos in this article were recorded. People behind two of the accounts that posted the videos declined to comment and the others did not respond.
The social media accounts touted the same marketing line: thousands of cheap and skilled workers. As one post put it in Chinese, with a smiley-face emoji: “Good value for money.”
“Chinese entrepreneurs are returning to North Korea to run joint ventures,” said Lee Sang-Yong, research director at Daily NK, a Seoul-based website specializing in North Korean affairs. “While the rest of the world was not paying much attention, bilateral trade has quietly recovered to prepandemic levels.”
North Korea is not completely cut off by U.N. sanctions. Firms can export items like wigs and tungsten ores, as long as they are not part of a joint venture with foreign companies. Official trade between North Korea and China reached nearly $1 billion in the first four months of this year, jumping about 23 percent from the same period a year ago, according to Chinese customs data.
Much of the factory activity appears to be happening in the northeastern city of Rason, near North Korea’s borders with China and Russia. Pyongyang designated the city as a special economic zone in 1991, aimed at attracting foreign investment — particularly from China — to build and run factories using low-cost North Korean labor.
It was not possible to determine if the social media videos have actually led to orders. But as contract manufacturers, many North Korean factories do not have a robust domestic supply chain. The country has “relied heavily on importing raw materials and intermediate goods from China, then manufacturing and reselling finished products by leveraging its relatively abundant labor force,” said Yi Ji-sun, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul.
Many of the social media posts emphasized the handiwork of the large work force. A video at one factory shows more than 150 men and women assembling false eyelashes, using small tools to nimbly weave the fabric and hammer the lashes onto a base. The caption reads, “North Korea Rason eyelash factory.”
When the product is ready, workers prepare for export by
packing boxes labeled with the quantity and the name of the lash style, “Mega
Volume” or “Crisscross,” in Chinese characters. Businesses pitched the rapid
turnaround of large orders as a key advantage of working with North Korean
factories. A video posted last August shows a table covered with more than 200
boxes, with the caption “Shipping out today.”
U.N. sanctions bar nations from buying textiles, including “fabrics and partially or completed apparel products,” from North Korea. However, posts showed a variety of goods that appeared to violate the ban, including hand-knit bags and crocheted toys.
One account hawked a traditional Chinese dress called qipao with the caption, “New pieces fresh off the frame by North Korean embroiderers. Seeking their destined owner.”
The social media posts also offer a look at life inside North Korean factories. The laborers work and live under military-style discipline. They eat at communal dining areas and participate in collective exercises.
Government propaganda slogans hang on the factory walls, continuously reinforcing loyalty to Mr. Kim.
North Korea has historically likened its foreign investment strategy to “putting up mosquito nets” — a policy designed to catch external capital while blocking foreign cultural influence. The remote geography of the Rason Special Economic Zone serves this purpose, allowing Pyongyang to isolate foreign investors from the general population.
To prevent the spread of outside information, the regime favors ethnic Chinese investors over Chinese business people of Korean descent who could communicate with locals, according to South Korean officials and analysts.
Translation
影片顯示中國企業兜售北韓勞工
隨著中美貿易復甦，一些中國企業家在社交媒體上大力宣傳其廉價的北韓勞動力
大量毛絨玩具、假睫毛和鉤針編織包等產品，均由廉價勞動力生產，部分工人甚至連續工作16小時。
這是部分中國企業在社交媒體上向潛在客戶推銷的廣告。然而，他們銷售的產品卻產自北韓，例如這段假髮工廠的影片。
近年來，這類貼文層出不窮。一些中國企業家在貼文中聲稱他們在北韓擁有工廠，並公開分享聯繫方式，在產品影片中大肆宣傳他們的帳號 - 這顯然違反了聯合國安理會禁止各國在北韓開展「合資企業或合作實體」的全面制裁。
這些影片已被觀看數萬次，讓人們得以罕見地窺看北韓工廠的日常生活。它們也標誌著中朝兩國關係的復甦 - 兩國間的官方貿易額近期大幅增長，中國國家主席習近平週一抵達平壤，與北韓最高領導人金正恩舉行峰會。
《紐約時報》查閱了抖音（中國版TikTok）和小紅書（又名Red
Note）上的34個社交媒體帳號和400多條宣傳北韓工廠產品的推文。 《紐約時報》利用衛星影像和其他網路影片資料核實了本文中影片的拍攝地點。發佈這些影片的兩個帳號的經營者拒絕置評，其他帳號則未作回應。
這些社交媒體帳號宣傳的都是同一套說法：成千上萬廉價且技術純熟的工人。正如一篇中文帖子用笑臉表情符號寫道：“物超所值。”
總部位於首爾、專門報道朝鮮事務的網站Daily NK的研究主管Lee Sang-Yong表示:「中國企業家正在返回北韓經營合資企業」; 「在世界其他國家並未過多關注的情況下，雙邊貿易已悄悄恢復到疫情前的水平」。
北韓並未完全被聯合國制裁所封鎖。只要不與外國公司成立合資企業，企業就可以出口假髮和鎢礦等商品。根據中國海關數據顯示，今年前四個月，朝中官方貿易額接近10億美元，比去年同期成長約23%。
大部分工廠活動似乎都集中在北韓東北部靠近中國和俄羅斯邊境的羅先市(Rason)。 1991年，平壤將羅先市劃為經濟特區，旨在吸引外資 - 尤其是來自中國的投資 - 利用北韓低成本勞動力建設和營運工廠。
目前尚無法確定這些社交媒體影片是否真的帶來了訂單。但作為代工生產商，許多北韓工廠缺乏完善的國內供應鏈。首爾國家安全戰略研究所研究員Yi Ji-sun表示，北韓「嚴重依賴從中國進口原料和半製成品，然後利用其相對豐富的勞動力進行生產和再銷售成品」。
許多社交媒體貼文都強調了龐大勞動力的精湛技藝。一段影片顯示，在一家工廠裡，150多名男女正在組裝假睫毛，他們使用小型工具靈巧地編織布料，並將睫毛釘在底座上。影片標題為「北韓羅先眼睫毛工廠」。
產品完成後，工人會準備出口，將有用中文標註數量和眼睫毛款式名稱，或標註着 ”特大” 或 ”交叉” 的盒子裝箱。北韓工廠的賣點是能夠迅速處理大量訂單。去年八月發佈的一段影片顯示，一張桌子上擺放著200多個箱，標題是「今天發貨」。
聯合國的制裁是禁止各國向北韓購買紡織品，包括「布料和半成品或成品服裝」。然而，一些貼文顯示，北韓出售的多類商品似乎違反了禁令，其中包括手工編織的包包和鉤針編織的玩具。
一個帳號兜售一種叫旗袍的傳統中國服飾，並配文：“朝鮮刺繡工匠新鮮出爐的新款，正在尋找它們命中注定的主人。”
這些社交媒體貼文也展現了北韓工廠內部的生活。工人們在類似軍事化的紀律下工作和生活。他們在公共食堂用餐，並參與集體体操。
工廠牆上懸掛著政府宣傳標語，不斷強化對金正恩的忠誠。
北韓歷來將對外投資策略比喻為「架設蚊帳」 - 旨在吸引外來資本，同時阻止外國文化的影響。羅先經濟特區的偏遠地理位置正符合這一目的，使平壤能夠將外國投資者與普通民眾隔離。
據韓國官員和分析人士稱，為了防止國外資訊流傳，北韓政權更傾向華裔投資者，而不是能夠與當地人交流的朝鮮族裔華商。
So, in some posts on social media in China,
Chinese entrepreneurs say that they own factories in North Korea, yet these
investments are in a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council sanctions
that bar nations from running “joint ventures or cooperative entities” in North
Korea. North Korea all along has likened its foreign investment strategy as
“putting up mosquito nets” — a policy designed to attract outside capital while
blocking foreign cultural influence, a goal which China also wants to achieve and
with some success. Apparently, North Korea needs outside money to support its economy.
