RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA:
End the use of forced labor in prison camps and among North Korean workers abroad; end punishments for victims who are forcibly repatriated from destination countries; improve the social, political, economic, and human rights conditions that render North Koreans vulnerable to trafficking in North Korea and in neighboring countries; criminalize human trafficking and recognize it as a distinct crime from human smuggling; investigate and prosecute trafficking cases, and convict trafficking offenders; provide assistance to trafficking victims in North Korea and to North Koreans repatriated from abroad; forge partnerships with international organizations and NGOs to combat human trafficking; establish transparent bilateral work contracts used to deploy North Korean laborers to neighboring countries; work with the international community to allow North Koreans to receive fair wages, choose their form of work, and leave their employment

at will; eliminate coercion tactics used to monitor the movements and communications of workers in forced labor; and become a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

PROSECUTION
The government made no known anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. North Korea does not have laws that prohibit all forms of trafficking in persons.The government did not provide transparent law enforcement data, nor explain what provisions of North Korean law, if any, were used to prosecute trafficking offenses or protect victims. During the reporting period, there were no known investigations or prosecutions of trafficking offenses, or convictions of traffickers.The government did not report whether it provided any anti-trafficking training to its officials.The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking offenses.

PROTECTION
The government made no efforts to protect trafficking victims, reporting no efforts to identify or assist victims. Government authorities failed to provide protective services to trafficking victims and did not permit NGOs to provide these services.The government did not exempt victims from being penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to trafficking, and there was no screening of forcibly repatriated North Koreans to ascertain if they were trafficking victims. North Koreans forcibly repatriated by Chinese authorities, including women believed to be trafficking victims, were sent to prison camps, where they were subjected to forced labor, and possible torture and sexual abuse by prison guards. North Korean defectors reported instances of the government executing trafficking victims who had been repatriated from China. Article 30 of the criminal code partially suspends civil rights of prison camp inmates; government officials used this provision to abuse victims in prison camps.

PREVENTION
The government made no efforts to prevent trafficking. Government oppression in North Korea prompted many North Koreans to flee the country in ways that made them vulnerable to trafficking in destination countries.The government made no efforts to raise awareness of trafficking, train government officials on trafficking, or screen migrants along the border for signs of trafficking. North Korean authorities made no discernible efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor.The government did not provide anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel. North Korea is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.

KOREA, REPUBLIC OF: Tier 1  
The Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. South Korean women are subjected to forced prostitution in Korea and abroad, including in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taiwan, Macau, and Chile. South Korean women commonly enter destination countries on tourist, work, or student visas, and some are subsequently forced into prostitution in massage parlors, salons, bars, restaurants, or through internet-advertised escort services.

Some victims who owe debts to entertainment establishment owners or loan sharks are then forced into prostitution. Some disabled or intellectually disabled Korean men are forced to work in salt farms where they experience verbal and physical abuse, nonpayment of wages, long work hours, and poor working and living conditions. South Korean children are vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation through online recruitment. In need of money for living expenses and shelter, some runaway girls are subjected to prostitution.
Men and women from China, North Korea, the Philippines,Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in Asia, the Middle East, and South America are subjected to forced labor in South Korea; some women from these regions are subjected to forced prostitution. Migrant workers, especially those from Vietnam, China, and Indonesia, can incur thousands of dollars in debts, contributing to their vulnerability to debt bondage. Approximately 500,000 low-skilled migrant workers, many employed under the ROK government’s Employment Permit System (EPS), work in the fishing, agriculture, livestock, restaurants, and manufacturing sectors. Some of these workers face conditions indicative of forced labor. Foreign women on E6-2 entertainment visas—mostly from the Philippines, China, and Kyrgyzstan—are subjected to forced prostitution in entertainment establishments near ports and U.S. military bases. Some women from China,Vietnam,Thailand, the Philippines, and Cambodia who are recruited for marriage to South Korean men through international marriage brokers are subjected to forced prostitution or forced labor after their arrival. Family members or Korean criminal networks recruit children from Southeast Asian countries with false promises of employment and subsequently force them into prostitution in South Korea. South Korean men engage in child sex tourism in Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, and the Philippines. Some Korean fishing crew members engage in commercial sex with children in Kiribati.The ROK is a transit point for Southeast Asian fishermen subjected to forced labor on fishing ships bound for Fiji and other ports in the Pacific.
The Government of the Republic of Korea fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. During the reporting period, the government investigated 457 reported cases linked to human trafficking, indicted 167 cases involving an unknown number of defendants, and maintained victim protection efforts. The government obtained 14 sex trafficking convictions and 53 labor trafficking convictions.The government conducted a first-ever labor trafficking prevalence survey in the agriculture and livestock sectors.The government, however, continued to narrowly define “trafficking” to lack labor trafficking victim identification guidelines, and to punish some potential victims in law enforcement operations against women in prostitution or migrant workers.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA:
Enhance efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers