North Korea to Export 120,000 Workers to China: Media
June 25th, 2012 | CaijingChina will allow 120,000 workers from North Korea to work in the country to earn foreign exchange before the start of next year, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo Daily reported.
Those workers will be dispatched to border cities of Tumen, Huchun and Danton, as well as other major cities in three Chinese northern provinces such as Shenyang, Yanji and Changchun.
The report, quoting a source familiar with the agreement between North Korea and China, said most of them are skilled workers who previously worked at contract manufacturers, and lost jobs when South Korea halted trade with the north in 2010 after the North’s sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan.
There are also 10,000 to 20,000 IT talents, the source added.
Varied from industries, salaries of these workers are between 200 to 300 U.S. dollars, the report said.
The report called that a “rare move” for the north, since the country had been restricting exporting labor force to “avoid the intellectual outflows from outside”.
It quoted an expert as analyzing that it was because the country was strapped for foreign exchanges after the break-off of trade between the north and the south.