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Government officials carefully select workers to send to China, screening them for their political loyalties to reduce the risk of defections. To qualify, a per
by syndicatedjelly 3y ago
Government officials carefully select workers to send to China, screening them for their political loyalties to reduce the risk of defections. To qualify, a person must generally have a job at a North Korean company and a positive evaluation from a local Party official. “These checks start at the neighborhood,” Breuker said. Candidates who have family in China, or a relative who has already defected, can be disqualified. For some positions, applicants under twenty-seven years of age who are unmarried must have living parents, who can be punished if they try to defect, according to a report from the South Korean government; applicants over twenty-seven must be married. North Korean authorities even select for height: the country’s population is chronically malnourished, and the state prefers candidates who are taller than five feet one, to avoid the official embarrassment of being represented abroad by short people. Once selected, applicants go through pre-departure training, which can last a year and often includes government-run classes covering everything from Chinese customs and etiquette to “enemy operations” and the activities of other countries’ intelligence agencies. (The North Korean government did not respond to requests for comment.)
I don't think I"m ever gonna complain about my job in America again.
- xanthor 3y agoThat would generally be the goal of pieces like this.
- zaptrem 3y agoI think the goal of this piece is closer to reducing the importation of seafood that is the result of forced labor.
- xanthor 3y agoThat doesn’t surprise me, but the purpose of New Yorker articles like this is primarily geopolitical in nature, not humanitarian. You can reference what they published in the lead up to the Iraq War as proof.
- vlovich123 3y agoGiven what’s outlined in the description above, forced labor doesn’t sound like it would meet the criteria as the chance for defection would be higher (+ glowing reviews from your boss). It sounds more like a description for a highly competitive jobs program.
- syndicatedjelly 3y agoCould your comment be any more indicative of how self-centered American tech workers are? Bad things happen in other parts of world, regardless of what anyone in America thinks about "RTO".
- scotty79 3y agoIt's an American newspaper paid for by American oligarchs to promote their goals. I don't think their goal is improving people's work conditions in far away poor countries.
- xanthor 3y agoI don’t really care about the conditions of tech workers since the lion’s share of the industry is just a speculative outlet for finance which produces no ‘technology’ whatsoever. But I’m also beyond believing that the goal of media outlets which shape people’s perceptions is to present objective reality out of the goodness of their hearts.
- corimaith 3y agoAssuming your own intentions are to see the truth of course, even if they may be uncomfortable for you. I find most people, especially the well-educated don't. They're much more interested in confirming their own biases. In that way the clueless "normie" does listens to MSM without any weight is sometimes more reliable to believe in.
- doctorpangloss 3y agoI’m not sure why you are being downvoted. I mean in an intellectually honest way, we are fairly powerless, like deglobalization will not solve this and violence by Americans cannot solve this. There’s a whole country of people who are literal close relatives of the victims of this atrocity, and they and their government have determined violence cannot solve this. You don’t need a degree in hottakeology to know this. It brings to mind Last Train Home, maybe the best piece of Chinese propaganda I’ve ever seen. Of course there’s no chance that the New Yorker writers are “allied” with some kind of repressive interest, but if the down voters think the authors are aligned with the US commoner, they’re nuts.
- huytersd 3y agoI do envy the job specific intensive training though.
- justsomehnguy 3y ago> I don't think I"m ever gonna complain about my job in America again. At the same time, 2024-02-25T18:06:34, 13of40@hn: >> as a hiring manager, I'm not going to waste my time with a candidate whose resume shows them hopping companies every year or two. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39503133 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39503133
- dennis_jeeves2 3y ago13of40 is one evil fellow. He really is.
- fyt2024 3y ago[dead]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mfru 3y ago> I don't think I"m ever gonna complain about my job in America again. Voilá, this is how those in power are kept in power.