Rusia para deportar a los empleados de Corea del Norte

According to TASS, last Tuesday the Russian Ambassador in Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora reported to Russian journalists in New York about the deportation of labor migrants to North Korea which started in some regions of Russia in accordance with the terms of the last UN Security Council resolution.

As noted A. Matsegora, such a measure will cripple the Russian economy, especially in the Far East where construction works involving about 12,000 North Korean employees are currently under way. According to statistics, about 12–15 thousand citizens of North Korea enter Russia annually and 90% of them get short-term work visas. In total, about 35,000 North Korean migrants are employed in the construction, agriculture and fishing industries.

A. Matsegora stressed that the deportation will not be forced. “We do not return anybody in the DPRK by force (...) We are in contact with the UN Commissariat for Refugees. We will solve all the problems of these people who decided not to return,” the ambassador said.

It should be recalled that the aforementioned resolution on tightening sanctions against North Korea was adopted by the UN Security Council on December 22, 2017 in response to a ballistic missile test conducted by the country in November. The document provides for new restrictions on the supply of crude oil and refined products to Pyongyang, as well as the repatriation of North Korean labor migrants from all countries in a 24-month period.