PROTECTION
The government made no discernible efforts to protect trafficking victims, failing to identify or assist any victims in 2014. The government remained without procedures to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations. Police may have encountered girls exploited by sex traffickers and clients in well-known meeting places, such as bars and hotels in Kiribati; however, government officials did not formally screen or identify any trafficking victims among them, nor provide them with any protective or rehabilitative services. The government reported victims could be referred to religious organizations to access medical and psychological services on an ad hoc basis; however, for the third consecutive year, it failed to refer any victims to such services or provide funding to these organizations.The Measures to Combat Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime Act’s victim protection provisions shield victims from prosecution for immigration crimes committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking; however, law enforcement efforts to combat prostitution potentially resulted in some trafficking victims being treated as law violators. Officials did not screen individuals detained for prostitution-related crimes to determine whether they were trafficking victims or verify their ages.The government did not develop or implement a referral process to transfer potential victims who are detained, arrested, or placed in protective custody by law enforcement authorities to institutions that provide short- or long-term care.The Kiribati Immigration Ordinance gives the principal immigration officer the option to make exceptions or extensions to standard immigration rules in exigent circumstances, such as trafficking; given the lack of identified foreign victims, this provision  remained unused.

PREVENTION
The government made limited efforts to prevent human trafficking. The Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs, in partnership with an international organization, continued to broadcast a radio show on child protection issues, including the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The Police Department’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Offenses unit continued to operate two 24-hour hotlines for reporting exploitation and abuse, though no known allegations of human trafficking were received.The Kiribati

Police Force received child protection training from and worked with an international organization to develop a child-friendly community policing protocol, including a referral and counseling program for youth. While foreign fishing license regulations hold ship captains accountable for the presence of unauthorized persons, including girls and women, on their vessels, the enforcement of these regulations did not result in the prosecution of traffickers or protection of victims.The government lacks a national plan of action or a coordinating government agency to combat trafficking. The Ministry of Labor reported reviewing the contracts of all I-Kiribati going overseas and conducting pre-departure briefings to ensure that workers were aware of their rights and able to protect themselves from potential forced labor.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.The government did not make efforts to address child sex tourism in the country.

KOREA, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF:
Tier 3 
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) is a source country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Forced labor is part of an established system of political repression.The government subjects its nationals to forced labor in prison camps in North Korea and through government-contracted labor in foreign countries. North Korea holds an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 prisoners in prison camps in remote areas of the country; in many cases these prisoners have not been prosecuted, convicted, or sentenced in a judicial proceeding. In prison camps, all prisoners, including children, are subject to forced labor, including logging, mining, or farming for long hours under harsh conditions. Prisoners are subjected to unhygienic living conditions, beatings, a lack of medical care, and insufficient food; many do not survive. Furnaces and mass graves are used to dispose of the bodies of those who die in these camps.
Some estimates place the number of laborers working abroad at 50,000 and other estimates give even higher numbers.This number is difficult to confirm because of the places where these workers are located. The largest numbers of such workers are sent to Russia and China. North Korean contract workers also perform labor in Africa, Central Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Credible reports show many North Korean workers under these contracts perform labor under conditions indicative of forced labor, such as working excessively long hours in hazardous temperature with no pay for up to three years. North Korean government “minders” monitor workers’ movements and communications; they also confiscate passports and require workers to spy on each other.Thousands of workers are estimated to be employed in logging, construction, mining, garment, and agriculture industries, where they reportedly have only two days of rest per year, work between 12 to 16 hours a day, and face punishments if they fail to meet production targets. North Koreans sent overseas do not have a choice in the work the government assigns them and are not free to change jobs.They face threats of government reprisals against them or their relatives in North Korea if they attempt to escape or complain to outside parties. Reports show up to 90 percent of workers’ salaries are appropriated and controlled by the North Korean government, which claims various “voluntary”

contributions to government endeavors.The Workers’ Party, the ruling party in North Korea, sometimes requires workers to meet an unrealistic quota and threatens them if they fail to do so; this leads to workers working longer hours and seeking other jobs in the local community to meet the quota.Workers receive only a fraction of the money paid to the North Korean government for their labor, sometimes not until they return to the country.
The government’s criminal justice system of harsh punishment through forced labor camps and its human rights abuses contribute to North Koreans being subjected to trafficking in neighboring China. Many of the North Korean women and girls who have fled and migrated illegally to China are especially vulnerable to trafficking, and traffickers reportedly lure, drug, detain, or kidnap some North Korean women upon their arrival. Others offer them jobs, but subsequently force the women into prostitution, domestic service, or agricultural work through forced marriages. According to one report, some women in the North Korean defector population are subjected to sexual slavery to Chinese or Korean-Chinese men, forced into prostitution in brothels or through internet sex sites, or compelled to serve as hostesses in nightclubs or karaoke bars. If found by Chinese authorities, victims are forcibly repatriated to North Korea where they are subjected to harsh punishment, possibly including forced labor in labor camps or the death penalty.
The Government of North Korea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.The government did not demonstrate any efforts to address human trafficking through prosecution, protection, or prevention measures.The government participated in human trafficking through its use of domestic forced labor camps and its provision of forced labor to foreign governments through bilateral contracts. It also failed to protect victims of trafficking when they were forcibly repatriated from China or other countries.