The Global Legal Action Network said in a statement that the man ‘endured 12-hour workdays in unsafe conditions and had much of his wages seized by the North Korean state’
A North Korean worker who claims he is a victim of modern slavery in a Polish shipyard has filed a criminal complaint against a Dutch shipbuilder that bought products from the Polish firm, an activist group said Thursday.
The Global Legal Action Network said in a statement that the man “endured 12-hour workdays in unsafe conditions and had much of his wages seized by the North Korean state.”
The network did not release the plaintiff’s name “to protect his safety.”
Dutch lawyer Barbara van Straaten, who filed the case Monday on the worker’s behalf, also is not revealing the name of the Dutch shipbuilder so as not to jeopardize a requested criminal investigation. Under Dutch law, companies can face prosecution if they profit from labor exploitation, even if it happened in another country.
The Global Legal Action Network said the North Korean worked at a shipyard in Gdynia, Poland owned by a private company, Crist.
