US again labels North Korea among world’s worst human traffickers

North Korea generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually by confiscating up to 90% of its overseas workers’ wages, according to a new U.S. State Department report, condemning the country as one of the world’s worst human trafficking offenders.

The 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report keeps Pyongyang in its “Tier 3” category, meaning North Korea “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so.”

North Korea has been in the Tier 3 category for over two decades.

The report estimates that 20,000 to 50,000 North Koreans work in