By Hayley Noah, HRNK Research Intern
Edited by Rosa Park, HRNK Director of Programs and Editor, and Benjamin Fu, HRNK Research Intern
July 7, 2020
North Korea is known to send workers abroad to earn foreign currency for the regime, with China and Russia the top two destinations for North Korean laborers. North Korea has a long history of sending workers abroad. For example, a high-level meeting between Russia and North Korea in 1950 suggests that North Korea had been supplying Russia with laborers since at least 1950.1 More recently, in 2017, North Korea and Russia signed a new labor immigration accord to increase the flow of North Korean workers to Russia.2 In terms of international security, this activity poses a serious risk, as, according to United Nations Security Resolution 2397, North Korean workers abroad work “for the purpose of generating foreign export earnings that [North Korea] uses to support its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”3 UN Security Council Resolution 2397 ordered the repatriation of North Korean workers abroad no later than December 22, 2019 in order to limit the Kim regime’s foreign currency funds.4
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