Russian lawmakers seek answers on North Korean guest workers
Well into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry maintained that it continues to adhere to multilateral sanctions regarding North Korea. Yet when members of the very Russian legislature where former ROK president Moon Jae-in himself spoke only four years before seek answers from the foreign ministry over the possibility of Russian businesses hiring North Korean laborers, the answer Russia’s diplomats give to legislators will be a telling sign as to how far DPRK-Russia relations have come since February 2022, and the extent to which Moscow is willing to buck international norms regarding North Korea even further.
Duma committee asks Russian foreign ministry about the possibility of hiring workers from the DPRK in Russia[1]
Moscow, September 27. Interfax. – The State Duma foreign affairs committee has made an inquiry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the possibility of employing workers from the DPRK in Russia, according to the committee’s first deputy chair, Svetlana Zhurova.
“We will definitely communicate with the foreign ministry on a working basis regarding this issue and will present all information for the authors of these instructions” – said Zhurova during a session of the Duma on Tuesday.
She also commented on the corresponding protocol instruction from lawmakers Mikhail Delyagin and Oleg Nilov of the parliamentary faction “A Just Russia – For Truth”.
The instructions include a request to the State Duma foreign affairs committee to ask the Russian foreign ministry its “position the possibility of and procedure for terminating observance of the prohibition on using workers from the DPRK and the further recovery of the system of organized access and involvement of workers from the DPRK to construction and other facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation.”
It also notes that Russia reduced the involvement of North Korean citizens in jobs on Russian soil in 2017 in accord with a UN resolution.
Original article by Interfax News Agency. Translated by Anthony V. Rinna.
[1] Source: Duma committee asks Russian foreign ministry about the possibility of hiring workers from the DPRK in Russia [Комитет Думы запросит МИД РФ о возможности использования в России рабочей силы из КНДР], Intefax, September 27, 2022, https://www.interfax.ru/amp/865150
