N. Koreans rush to China to bring home money: Reports

ANKARA

A day after reports emerged that North Korea was running out of food and currency reserves, Pyongyang is said to be sending its people to China to bring home money, media reported on Tuesday.

According to Seoul-based daily Cholsunilbo, tens of thousands of North Korean workers are rushing to China on temporary visitor visas to “make quick cash for the regime”.

North Korea is under international sanctions ban for its nuclear weaponry and the ban extends on UN member countries as not to employ Pyongyang workers too. To avoid violation of sanctions ban, Beijing is said to be issuing temporary visas against work permits, the newspaper said.

“The North is engaging in guerrilla-style cash raids by sending workers to China on two-month visitor visas. China needs cheap labor and the North is more than willing to supply it, with an estimated 70,000 workers heading across the border in search of jobs,” the daily asserted.

On Monday, reports emerged that Pyongyang was running short on foreign currency, food, and oil reserves that they would not hold up not even for a year.

And to shore up its reserves, Kim Song, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, sent letters to international organizations on March 20 appealing for food donations.

The report said that North Korean workers were sent to China's three northeastern provinces, “where they usually work in clothing and food factories as well as construction sites, saunas and restaurants, and as maids and cleaners”.

“They are paid around US$200 a month, much of which is taken by the regime,” it claimed.