North Korea recently reached an agreement with China on the repatriation and replacement of North Korean workers through its embassy and other diplomatic channels, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a high-ranking source in North Korea told Daily NK on Tuesday that “several working-level issues” regarding the dispatch of North Korean workers “had been resolved through close negotiations with China through embassies and diplomatic channels.” He said the dispatch of workers to China “would continue because the two sides are closely cooperating.”
After a South Korean media outlet sparked rumors of an impending total repatriation of North Korean workers from China earlier this month, North Korean authorities explained problems regarding the repatriation and replacement of workers to the Chinese government. The two sides ultimately agreed to handle the matter promptly.
North Korean authorities also reportedly communicated closely with Chinese companies in need of labor, given that North Korean workers in China are a major source of foreign currency for the regime. The authorities reportedly stressed that China is short of labor, and nobody works as well or as cheaply as North Koreans.
North Korea reportedly wants to continue sending workers to China with little in the way of policy changes.
Preparations to send new workers to China appear to be going relatively smoothly. The source said that “about 500 workers — mostly women — are waiting to be sent to China,” with “about 70% going to fishery businesses and the remaining 30% to sewing factories.”
He said the workers “are mostly residents of the Hamgyong and Pyongan provinces and Pyongyang” and that “the workers’ three-month screening recently ended.” This means North Korea has already completed its internal preparations to send new workers to China.
China is still an important destination for North Korean labor
With North Korea and Russia recently growing closer economically and even militarily, some say that China has dropped in North Korea’s diplomatic priority list because North Korea “is likely to get more cash from Russia.”
Seemingly aware of this, North Korean authorities have put the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of External Economic Relations on guard, ordering them to “minimize diplomatic friction with China,” the source said.
“North Korea is considering sending more workers to Russia, but this doesn’t mean it won’t send any to China, with the authorities planning to send small groups of workers there frequently,” he said. “North Korea must continue to send workers to any country it can to earn foreign currency.”
“The national principle is that securing party funds and foreign currency quotas, bolstering bilateral cooperation with Russia and China and a national interest perspective should come first,” the source said. “The authorities plan to exercise flexibility in their worker dispatch policy in a way that also accords with the interests of Russia and China while continuing to cooperate with those countries.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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