Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for the procurement team at Lotte Mart.
The email said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s food processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between a company engaged in such practices and your supply chain. A report published in 2022 by the non-governmental research organization, the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, identified Dandong Taihua Food Co. Ltd. as using North Korean labor after the December 2019 deadline for the repatriation of overseas North Korean workers required under United Nations Security Council Resolutions. According to our research, Dandong Taihua has supplied clam meat products under Sea Global’s brands ‘Sea Village’ and ‘Arachan’. We understand that ‘Sea Village’ and ‘Arachan’ clam products are sold by Lotte Mart. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we wish to ask: does Lotte Mart have any comment to make in response to this email?"