Thousands of North Korean workers are departing China’s border city of Dandong without replacement, with approximately 4,000 leaving in October alone.
“This month, about 2,000 North Korean workers have already been sent home. That amounts to an average of 200 or so workers going home every day. Seven minibuses have been chartered to take them back across the border every day,” a source in China told Daily NK recently.
According to the source, some 6,000 North Korean workers have returned home over the past two months.
So far, North Koreans working at smaller factories, with workforces of 200 people or less, are the main targets for repatriation. These North Koreans were generally working at factories that make garments or assemble electronic devices.
According to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2397, North Korean workers on assignment overseas were supposed to go back to North Korea by Dec. 22, 2019. However, North Korea has kept substantial contingents of workers in such countries as China and Russia.
After the North Korean government closed its borders in January 2020 because of COVID-19, North Koreans who were working overseas were stuck in their assignments, unable to return home.
When North Korea and China resumed passenger train service last year, North Korean authorities began bringing workers home, prioritizing people struggling with health issues or marked for special observation because of trouble adjusting to life overseas.
For the past year, North Korea had been repatriating small numbers of workers who were unable to perform their duties. Since last month, however, the country has been repatriating large groups of ordinary workers without any health issues.
Mass exodus seems limited to Liaoning province
The sudden departure of so many North Korean workers is a subject of some interest to the local Chinese. “Two hundred workers returning to North Korea each day has the impact of a daily factory closure here,” one person was quoted as saying.
With so many North Koreans returning home, some Chinese factory owners with North Koreans on their payrolls are in danger of going out of business.
But since the Chinese government is involved in the repatriation of those North Korean workers, Chinese factory owners are reluctant to voice opposition or ask for relief.
“The Chinese government has been taking steps to repatriate North Korean workers in Liaoning province as its relations with North Korea grow chilly. So far, I haven’t heard of any plans to send more North Korean workers to Liaoning province,” the source said.
While North Korean workers are returning home en masse from Liaoning province, there are no signs of anything similar happening in Jilin province.
North Korean workers are not currently being given assignments in Dandong or other parts in Liaoning province, but hundreds of workers are being sent to Tumen and Nanping, both cities in Jilin province.
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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