The company, which often is criticized for its low-paying jobs and buying habits in the U.S., recently has faced allegations that it made bribes in Mexico and calls for better safety oversight after a deadly fire at a Bangladesh factory that supplies its clothes.

NPR: Wal-Mart To Hire Vets, Buy More American Products

So far it is not clear which Western retailers the factory in question supplies.

BBC: Bangladesh textile workers' deaths 'avoidable'

Amid high tensions, North Korea suspended operations at Kaesong in early April, withdrawing all of its 53, 000 workers and barring South Korean factory managers and trucks with supplies from entering the complex.

NPR: Most South Koreans Leave North Korean Factory

Even more remarkable, half the workers don't even work directly for GEMA. They're employed by some 18 contractors doing noncore jobs once jealously guarded by the UAW, like moving supplies, maintaining equipment or cleaning the factory.

FORBES: Labor Riddle

Now it supplies the families with drinking water and sells them contaminated scrap metal and bricks from the factory.

BBC: Albania's environmental wasteland

Vestas, which supplies 40% of the world's offshore turbines, has applied for planning permission for the factory.

BBC: Isle of Sheppey wind turbine factory gains support