Around 100,000 North Koreans worked overseas in 2023, earning about
  US$500 million for North Korea, indicating that Pyongyang has the means
  to get around sanctions, a report by the U.N. Security Council’s Panel
  of experts said.

  According to the report, which covers July 2023 to January 2024 and was
  dated Mar. 7, the workers were sent to around 40 countries to work in
  construction, hospitality, medicine and information technology.

  “These workers are initially dispatched on student or tourist visas;
  some use false nationalities and identity cards,” the report said. “The
  vast majority are reportedly working in two countries.”

  Though the report did not name those countries, sources have told Radio
  Free Asia that there are tens of thousands of North Korean workers in
  Russia and China, with one source saying as recently as December that
  there were more than [1]100,000 in China alone.

  But the workers can only keep a fraction of their earnings, the report
  said.

  “The remainder is taken by their dispatching agency and in many cases
  used to purchase items for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,”
  the report said, using North Korea’s official name.

  More planned

  The report said that North Korea also has contracts to send around
  400,000 more workers abroad once the border with China opens further
  after being closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2397, meant to deprive Pyongyang
  of cash and resources that could be funneled into its nuclear and
  missile programs, all North Korean workers were supposed to have
  returned home by the end of 2019, and no new work visas were to be
  issued to North Korean citizens since then.

  According to RFA reports, [2]some of the workers who were abroad prior
  to the deadline ended up [3]stranded in China or Russia once North
  Korea closed its borders in January 2020 due to the coronavirus
  pandemic.

  Though Pyongyang brought some of them home [4]last year, others who
  have not seen their homes in more than four years remain abroad.

  IT workers

  Among the various sectors that dispatched North Korean workers are
  employed in, about 3,000 IT workers abroad and 1,000 at home generate
  what the panel estimated amounted to between $250-600 million per year.

  A report from South Korean outlet NK News quoted human rights activist
  Sokeel Park as saying that the sanctions should be revised to protect
  North Korean workers.

  “If there is any interim deal that includes sanctions relief with
  snapback provisions in return for progress on arms controls, sanctions
  against North Koreans living and working overseas should be relieved
  first,” Park, the South Korea director of Liberty in North Korea, told
  NK News.

  “If these sanctions are adjusted, they could work in a broader range of
  countries, their visa situations could be regularized and there could
  be a push for better compliance with International Labour Organization
  standards and improvement in conditions and share of pay,” he said.

  Edited by Malcolm Foster.

References

  1. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/workers-12082023142811.html
  2. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/workers-china-06292020202758.html
  3. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/china-02222021120256.html
  4. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/repatriate-08292023143955.html

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