North Korean regime 'propped up' by Edinburgh Woolen Mill sweatshop deal
THE Edinburgh Woollen Mill have been exposed for using North Korean sweatshop labour to make their clothes.
The cashmere knitwear, labelled "Designed in Scotland", is made by Mongolian firm Eermel, who employ 80 North Korean women in work gangs.
Eermel have admitted paying part of these workers' wages to Kim Jong-il's government - helping to prop up the hardline regime.
But Edinburgh Woollen Mill insist wages go directly to employees.
EWM, based in Langholm, Dumfriesshire, have been using Eermel to produce sweaters and cashmere for five years.
The North Korean workers are based at a factory in Ulan Bator, where they are overseen by officials from their country.
The EWM deal was exposed by a BBC Newsnight investigation.
David Woods, a manager at the Eermel factory, told the programme: "We're very proud to be working with Edinburgh Woollen Mill. They joined us about five years ago."
Woods, who has now left the company, said the North Koreans were "well looked after".
He added: "They're hard workers. They don't complain and they get stuck in. They're quite skilled.
"They have a dormitory, they have food, they have showers, they have a television."
North Korea is one of the world's most secretive societies. Its people live under a rigid state system.
It is estimated 100,000 North Koreans work in Russia, China and Mongolia, making millions of pounds a year for Kim's regime.
The Eermel workers' contracts are secret and likely to violate a raft of international agreements on employment rights.
It's understood they earn the equivalent of up to £200 a month.
An Eermel spokesman said: "We are paying the money to the [North Korean] embassy. How they split the salary, we don't know."
But an EWM spokesman insisted wages went to the staff. He said: "No funds are paid to North Korea or any North Korean agency".
The cashmere knitwear, labelled "Designed in Scotland", is made by Mongolian firm Eermel, who employ 80 North Korean women in work gangs.
Eermel have admitted paying part of these workers' wages to Kim Jong-il's government - helping to prop up the hardline regime.
But Edinburgh Woollen Mill insist wages go directly to employees.
EWM, based in Langholm, Dumfriesshire, have been using Eermel to produce sweaters and cashmere for five years.
The North Korean workers are based at a factory in Ulan Bator, where they are overseen by officials from their country.
The EWM deal was exposed by a BBC Newsnight investigation.
David Woods, a manager at the Eermel factory, told the programme: "We're very proud to be working with Edinburgh Woollen Mill. They joined us about five years ago."
Woods, who has now left the company, said the North Koreans were "well looked after".
He added: "They're hard workers. They don't complain and they get stuck in. They're quite skilled.
"They have a dormitory, they have food, they have showers, they have a television."
North Korea is one of the world's most secretive societies. Its people live under a rigid state system.
It is estimated 100,000 North Koreans work in Russia, China and Mongolia, making millions of pounds a year for Kim's regime.
The Eermel workers' contracts are secret and likely to violate a raft of international agreements on employment rights.
It's understood they earn the equivalent of up to £200 a month.
An Eermel spokesman said: "We are paying the money to the [North Korean] embassy. How they split the salary, we don't know."
But an EWM spokesman insisted wages went to the staff. He said: "No funds are paid to North Korea or any North Korean agency".
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