North Korea revised the Labor Wages Act in May to make it illegal for workers to be paid in foreign currency. In addition, the new law deleted a section that authorized agencies, enterprises, organizations and farms to pay workers in kind and now requires them to be paid in cash.<\/p>\n
Daily NK recently obtained a portion of the Labor Wages Act, which was revised and supplemented as Decree No. 1927 of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly on May 27.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most notable part of the revised law is that it fully prohibits paying workers with foreign currency and stipulates punishment for such behavior.<\/p>\n
The original version of the law did not include a phrase about “calculating and paying labor wages in foreign currency” that appears in the revised version of Article 30 (Behavior Prohibited in the Payment of Labor Wages).<\/p>\n
In addition, Article 44 (Unpaid Labor and Disciplinary Labor as Punishment) of the revised law states that individuals responsible for calculating and paying labor wages in foreign currency are to be punished with three or fewer months of unpaid or disciplinary labor or, in severe cases, with three or more months of such labor.<\/p>\n
The phrase “foreign currency” cannot even be found in the 2023 version of the law. But the law was revised to state that wages cannot be paid in foreign currency and to threaten unpaid or disciplinary labor as punishment. This appears to be part of North Korea’s efforts since 2020 to stamp out the use of foreign currency, said Peter Ward, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute.<\/p>\n
Another notable change in the revised law is the deletion of all previous sections that authorized noncash payment of labor wages.<\/p>\n
Article 25 (Format and Timing of Payment of Labor Wages) of the previous version of the law provided that “labor wages are generally to be paid in cash but may be paid in kind depending on the specific nature of the business and the type of revenue in the entity or sector in question.” In addition, Article 33 (Combination of Cash and Noncash Distribution and Timing of Distribution) of the previous version stated that “settlement of wages on the farm is generally to consist of in-kind distribution along with cash distribution depending on the situation of the farm.”<\/p>\n