Correspondence
Email sent to the media contact for Mercadona.
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 North Korean 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, Congalsa was the consignee for shipments of seafood from Dalian Haiqing between September 2021 and August 2022. We understand that Mercadona stocks Congalsa seafood products. In light of the above, we have some questions for Mercadona:
- While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if you have any comment to make in response to this email?
- Can you confirm or deny if Congalsa has supplied any products from Dalian Haiqing to Mercadona?"
Javier Fernández replied for Mercadona: "My name is Javier Fernández and I am the responsible of Human Rights in the supply chain for Mercadona. First of all, I would like to thank you, as we were not aware of issues that you have risen up. Upon receiving this information from you, we have taken steps with our supplier Congalsa in order to get more information about the concerning situation you have reported. However, in addition to the investigation we have started, I would like to have a meeting with you. On the one hand, to get to know each other and, of course, on the other hand, to be able to discuss this issue in depth and share the information. If you agree to have this meeting, please let me know your availability for next week and we will try to coordinate our schedules. If I am not mistaken, you are located in the USA, so the meeting would be online."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you very much for your email and for Mercadona’s engagement with us on this. As you may not know, we're communicating with over 300 companies about our investigation into forced labor, and we're doing so always in writing and on record so we can be fully transparent. While I am unable to meet - and thank you for making that offer - we are happy to keep talking by email."
Javier Fernández replied for Mercadona: "Of course, we fully understand your need to keep communications via email. We will do so. We do have a strong commitment to Human Rights and therefore we kindly ask you to provide us with all the information you can so that we can progress with our investigation. On our part, as soon as we find out more, we will share it with you."
The Outlaw Ocean Project responded: "Thank you for your continued interest and engagement on this.
As a journalism outlet, we are unable to provide anything that risks exposing our sources to retribution or penalty from authorities in China and/or North Korea. That said, we do not wish to hinder your investigation into the allegations and will share what additional context we feel safely able to at this time.
Over the past several months, our investigation has interviewed North Korean workers who worked as recently as 2023 at facilities they said were owned by Haiqing. These workers, most of them women, described their time doing seafood processing at Haiqing plants and some of them described sexual coercion from their managers and sex for pay. The journalists also interviewed an individual who has done business with Haiqing in the past. This businessman visited and filmed the grounds of one of the plants on our behalf. We used mapping software and open source footage to independently confirm the location of this visit. This businessman also identified the dorms and said that Haiqing employed 50-70 North Korean workers and has done so since 2021.
We appreciate your offer to share any information you find in your investigation with us. "
Javier Fernández replied for Mercadona: "Of course, I understand your need to protect your sources and we respect it. All the information you have provided us with is well appreciated, and we are deeply concerned about the situation. We strongly condemn any practices that violate human rights, as the ones you have described.
We would like to inform you, in an open and transparent manner, that our supplier Congalsa did purchase a very small quantity of fish on the dates you mentioned. Like us, Congalsa was not aware of the situation.
Although it was an small quantity, Congalsa have contacted Haiqing, who has told us that they have never hired workers from North Korea. Any other evidence you can keep share with us, even if it is “small”, will be such a great help to us in taking the necessary decisions. We are committed to ensuring that our supply chains are free of human rights violations."