Japan urges the world to deny North Koreans jobs so Pyongyang’s nuke cash is cut

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Japan complains that money sent back to Pyongyang from North Korean expats is funnelled into the country’s war machine. Photo: AP

Published: 2:09pm, 24 Jul 2016Updated: 11:06pm, 24 Jul 2016

The Japanese government has been stepping up efforts with the United States and South Korea to urge countries that have been accepting workers from North Korea to no longer do so in a bid to cut off financing for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development plans, sources close to the matter said Saturday.

Defying UN Security Council resolutions and warnings from the international community, North Korea has conducted four nuclear tests, most recently in January, as well as rocket launches.

At a time when Japan along with the United States and South Korea remain on alert for a possible fifth nuclear test by the North, the three countries have been trying since spring to root out one of the sources of North Korea’s finances – foreign currency earned by North Korean workers abroad, the sources said.

North Koreans sit in front of a window display of household items at a department store in downtown Pyongyang. Photo: AP

The estimated number of North Koreans working abroad is now between 50,000 to 60,000 and the annual amount of remittance is US$500 million. Pyongyang systematically sends people abroad to work as an important source of foreign exchange.

For North Koreans, their major destinations for work are Russia and China, part of the council’s five veto-wielding permanent members along with Britain, France and the United States.