-NK foreign ministry facing difficulty amid financial crisis

-Increasing financial difficulty from market regulations

-An estimated 40~50,000 workforces working abroad

 

According to a recent source from North Korea’s ministry of foreign affairs, the number of North Korean workers sent abroad has consistently risen since Kim Jong Eun’s takeover.

 

A source said that a labor unit left Pyongyang station on June 12th, reaching Beijing en route to Dandong and Shenyang.

 

When the train bound for Beijing was delayed for 20 minutes, ministry officials ordered workers from the consulate to bring food and beverages for workers and the higher officials overseeing them, the source stated.

 

It has been increasingly difficult to collect revenue for the Party since Kim Jong Eun’s succession. North Korean society is severely declining and people’s loyalty is waning. Hence more workers are dispatched to the outside world to earn Party revenue.

 

Also, the preparation required for the workers’ meal clearly illustrates North Korea’s economic destitution as workers from the consulate were called upon to come up with the workers’ provisions on their own and it was not provided by the central government.

 

Further, North Korea’s market system is malfunctioning due to the regime’s excessive regulation. Consequently, entrepreneurs who have been sending Chinese commodities to North Korea are suffering from a lack of capital..

 

A source reported “It’s an honour to live abroad and I should follow every order from the authority but I can’t do any business when there is no money”. They added “It’s not pleasing to live outside the country anymore”.  

 

An estimated 40 to 50,000 North Korean laborers are working in as many as 45 countries and a bilateral agreement was reached last April to deploy 20,000 further workers to Dandong, China.