Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for Espersen.
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.
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.
According to trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project, Espersen was the consignee for shipments of seafood, including pollock, from Dalian Haiqing in 2021. In light of the above, we have some questions for Espersen:
- While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Espersen has any comment to make in response to this email?
- Can you confirm or deny if Espersen supplied any product from Dalian Haiqing to McDonald’s?"
Michael Didriksen, Supply Chain Director at Espersen, replied: "Thank you for your e-mail. We have as A. Espersen A/S invested heavily in our Corporate Social Responsibility program which, amongst others, is aimed at ensuring the external suppliers live up to the standards and requirements we have to our external suppliers. We have our own resources on-site in China performing announced and semi-announced audits both before approving a new supplier and on a regular basis during the business relationship. We do subsequently not rely entirely on third-party audits.
We are as A. Espersen A/S sourcing various seafood products from two approved production sites of Dalian HaiQing. Each site undergoes regular internal audits performed by A. Espersen A/S resources based in China. The following two sites controlled/owned by Dalian HaiQing have been approved for delivery to A. Espersen A/S: Dalian Jiaming Food Co. Ltd. Dalian Haikou Food Co. Ltd.
Both production sites are in the Zhuanghe industrial area close to the city of Dalian. We are of the firm understanding that the hiring of North Korean workers in processing sites in the city of Zhuanghe is illegal by law and subsequently strictly enforced. We as A. Espersen A/S does not allow sourcing from the border cities of Dandong and notably Hunchun and we have subsequently no active suppliers in these two production hubs or any other city near the North Korean border. In the province of Liaoning, we only source from companies in the Zhuanghe area.
As SEDEX member, all high-risk country suppliers must have third party social audits. Regarding Dalian Jiaming and Dalian Haikou, we have 2023 SMETA audits stating that 100% of the workers in both production sites are of Chinese nationality. We have had internal A. Espersen A/S resources on-site in both sites during the months of November and December 2023 and have not detected anything that should indicate something to the contrary. As to your question in terms of the McDonalds supply chain, hereby confirm that no products from Dalian HaiQing or any other seafood supplier in China goes into the A. Espersen A/S supply chain to McDonalds."