North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a meeting with Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday. Reuters-Yonhap

Approximately 70 percent of North Korean wigs, destined for exports to generate much-needed cash, are produced through forced labor by women in correctional facilities, according to a recent report released by the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights.

The report, titled "Made in China: How Global Supply Chains Fuel Slavery in North Korea's Prison Camps," exposes the harsh conditions at Chongori Kyowaso (Correctional Camp) No. 12 in North Hamgyong Province, where many repatriated female defectors are detained. The findings are based on testimonies from around 30 sources, including defectors who were imprisoned at Chongori, as well as former North Korean prosecutors, police officers, State Security Department agents, and customs officers.

Chongori camp, originally established to house male criminals, became a predominantly female facility after a large number of defectors were repatriated from China around the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Currently, women make up 80 percent of the camp's population. The camp holds an average of 1,000 female inmates annually and operates around 10 production work teams. Inmates are subjected to beatings, illegal executions, and hazardous working conditions, resulting in an annual mortality rate of 25 percent due to inadequate food and medical care, according to the report.

North Korea's state-run trading companies, which have export permits, partner with Chinese firms through the Rason Special Economic Zone near the province. These companies outsource the production of export goods such as wigs, artificial eyelashes and reed bags to the correctional facilities.

"Raw materials supplied from China are produced through forced labor of prisoners, and finished products are laundered as 'made in China' through Beijing's outward processing trade system, thereby avoiding international sanctions while being distributed to the global market," the report stated.

It is estimated that female inmates at Chongori produce about 9,000 wigs annually. Data from China's General Administration of Customs indicates that in 2020 and 2021, Chongori's wig production accounted for 42 percent and 71 percent of North Korea's wig exports to China, respectively. The report estimates that forced labor at Chongori generated roughly $1.2 million in revenues for the North Korean regime from 2016 to August 2024.

"The cooperation between North Korea and China, which involves targeting, arresting, transferring, and imprisoning North Korean women in China for forced labor to pursue economic gains, contains elements of slave trade or state-sponsored human trafficking," the report said.