Seoul defends joint training at N.K. ski resort which children as young as 11 were forced to build

Hyangsu Park (朴香樹）‏
@baglekang

北朝鮮人権弾圧の象徴という『馬息嶺スキー場』で南北選手が共同訓練するというニュースに世論は大混乱。金正恩の命令で、子供を含む数千人が強制労役に動員され、手作業で作らされたスキー場。韓国の若者世代にとって、北朝鮮はもはや外国。なのに感性的な同族論でゴリ押し続ける政権。

(LEAD) Seoul defends joint training at N.K. ski resort as part of efforts for 'Peace Olympics'
2018/01/18 16:03

North Korea 'using child labour' to keep luxury ski resort open for country's elite

report has found that thousands of men, women and children are working in blizzard conditions using sticks, pickaxes and makeshift shovels to keep North Korea’s Masikryong ski resort open.

Video footage released by NBC shows workers crouched at the side of the road hammering at the frozen surface in an attempt to keep the access road open for the resort’s elite visitors – in contrast to the modern snowploughs and other machinery used in the vast majority of ski resorts around the world.

The report has claimed that some of the children carrying out this backbreaking work could be as young as 11 or 12.

[Newsmaker] Masikryong, hermit kingdom’s controversy-ridden ski resort

A Korea Ski Association official told local media that the resort meets the International Ski Federation’s requirements as a training facility.

But the quality of slopes, hotels and accompanying facilities are not so much a problem as the suspicion of the use of child labor in building and maintaining the resort.

Last year, footage revealed by NBC showed workers laboring in the freezing cold to keep roads open, some of whom clearly appeared to be children. The revelation sparked furor and condemnation from around the world, with groups like US-based Human Rights calling on the UN to pressure the North to stop child labor.

There have been criticisms within South Korea about the North taking advantage of this opportunity to promote its facility and its dictatorial leadership.

“Masikryong resort opened in 2013, and North Korea is busy promoting it because not enough foreigners are visiting. For our players to train there is preposterous,” said Rep. Na Kyung-won of the Liberty Korea Party on TBS radio. “I think (the Olympics) are being used for North Korean propaganda.”