The Taepyeong Salt Field in Jeollanam-do's Sinan-gun, equipped with a salt farm facility covering 4,628,099 square meters (approximately 1.4 million pyeong), has begun procedures to lift the U.S. import ban. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) in April, claiming that the salt from Taepyeong was produced through forced labor. The so-called "salt farm slave" incident, which exploited the labor of vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, became an issue. When a WRO is invoked, the relevant products are immediately confiscated upon arrival in the U.S.
According to the Jeollanam-do Office and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on the 14th, Taepyeong Salt Field has hired Shin & Kim LLC and submitted a petition to lift the WRO to the U.S. CBP on the 8th of last month. CBP will allow imports again after reviewing if the importer can prove that the products were not produced through forced labor.
CBP invoked the WRO, stating it confirmed cases of violations of forced labor indicators defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO). This decision was made approximately two and a half years after advocacy groups for people with disabilities petitioned CBP for the WRO in November 2022.
The issue at hand relates to wage arrears and other incidents that occurred between a business operator who rented part of the Taepyeong Salt Field in 2021 and the workers employed by that renter. The salt field is no longer in operation. The petition for withdrawal included the status of penalties against the involved business operator and concepts related to the rental of the Taepyeong Salt Field.
Attorney Baek Dae-yong from Shin & Kim LLC said, "The CBP's Withhold Release Order should be directed toward the individual salt manufacturing operators (renters) who employed and managed the workers, and the WRO against the Taepyeong Salt Field (the lessor), which is unrelated to forced labor, should be lifted," adding, "We have already terminated the salt manufacturing contractor and have been making efforts to eradicate forced labor."
Although the solar salt exported by Taepyeong Salt Field amounts to only 100 million won, a request for withdrawal was made to prevent the WRO from expanding to other seafood products. The withdrawal petition also included the efforts of the government and local authorities to prevent recurrence.
Following the incident, Jeollanam-do assigned dedicated public officials to salt fields that employed workers. Since then, a thorough investigation into working conditions and human rights violations has been conducted, and since 2022, annual surveys have been carried out on the working environments and human rights conditions of salt field workers. It is reported that currently, the salt field has undergone facility automation, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of workers and a considerable decrease in work intensity.
Taepyeong Salt Field has decided to undergo an audit by an external independent agency at the request of CBP. To this end, they signed an audit and consulting contract with a global consulting corporation last month. This corporation is expected to examine improved accommodations and other conveniences as well as working conditions. The audit will take place over approximately three months, after which a report will be submitted to the CBP.
A Jeollanam-do official noted, "We will adequately clarify to CBP and work with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to ensure the timely lifting of the import restriction measures."
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