Jeonnam Province Makes All-out Efforts to Lift US Withhold Release Order on Taepyeong Salt Farm

Efforts to Be Communicated, Including Revision of Human Rights Ordinance

Scenes from the "First Solar Salt Harvesting Ceremony of 2025" recently held at Taepyeong Salt Farm. Provided by Jeonnam Province

Jeollanam-do announced on the 7th that, in response to the Withhold Release Order (WRO) issued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) against Taepyeong Salt Farm on the 2nd, it is making all-out efforts together with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Shinan-gun, and related companies to ensure the prompt lifting of the measure.

This Withhold Release Order was imposed after indicators of forced labor (such as poor working conditions, wage withholding, and violence) based on International Labour Organization (ILO) standards were found in past cases. As a result, all sun-dried salt products produced at Taepyeong Salt Farm and exported to the United States are now banned from import and distribution within the U.S.

The issue in question concerns incidents such as wage arrears that occurred in 2021 between a tenant (an individual business operator) who leased part of Taepyeong Salt Farm and the workers employed by that tenant.

The salt farm in question is no longer in operation. The decision came about two and a half years after disability rights organizations and others petitioned the U.S. CBP for a WRO in November 2022.

Since the incident, Jeollanam-do has been pursuing multifaceted measures together with cities and counties, the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, disability organizations, and others to establish proper working environments for salt farm workers and to improve salt farm conditions.

Dedicated public officials have been assigned to each salt farm employing workers to conduct thorough investigations into working conditions and potential human rights violations. Since 2022, annual surveys on the working environment and human rights status of salt farm workers have been conducted. This year, the budget has been significantly increased to 80 million won, and the scope of the survey will be expanded to include education and in-depth counseling in addition to the basic survey.

In addition, since 2017, 640 salt farm operators and workers have received human rights training, with 93 more scheduled for this year. According to the 2024 survey on salt farm workers, there were no cases of violence or exploitation compared to the previous year, indicating improved human rights awareness.

In June 2022, Jeollanam-do revised its Basic Ordinance on Human Rights to expand the scope of the Human Rights Violation Relief Committee to include “corporate organizations or workplaces in salt farms within the province.”

Furthermore, Jeollanam-do plans to inform the U.S. side that there have been no further cases of forced labor or wage exploitation since 2021, and that the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, local governments, and export companies are making multifaceted efforts to improve the sun-dried salt industry. The province will request the lifting of the order and work closely to minimize export disruptions.

Kang Seokwoon, Director of Fisheries Distribution and Processing at Jeollanam-do, stated, “This measure is based on past incidents, and Taepyeong Salt Farm is currently operated independently of the employer involved in those incidents. We will actively cooperate with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and others to sufficiently clarify the facts to the U.S. CBP and ensure the prompt lifting of the import restriction.”