US asks other nations to curb use of North Korean workers

The administration of President Barack Obama is asking other nations to cut the employment of North Korean workers as a way to reduce Pyongyang's access to foreign currency, a United States (US) official said on Thursday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, spoke a day after the US sanctioned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time, citing "notorious abuses of human rights" in a move that infuriated the nuclear-armed country. The effort aims to increase economic pressure on the North, which angered the United States in 2016 by conducting its fourth nuclear test and by carrying out a rocket launch that Washington said used banned ballistic missile technology.

US efforts to revive talks with North Korea on its nuclear program, seen as a threat to US allies Japan and South Korea, have failed to gain traction, prompting US officials to look at additional sanctions to influence its behaviour. The US official declined to name the countries approached about reducing their use of North Korean labour, though he said they did not yet include China and Russia, believed to be among the prime destinations for North Korean workers. It was not clear when the request was made.

The United States said in April it was working to cut off revenue streams to North Korea by targeting remittances from its overseas workers. China and Russia generally oppose sanctions that do not have UN Security Council backing and Beijing especially fears steps that could destabilise its impoverished neighbour. Asked if the United States was asking other nations to reduce the employment of North Koreans, a US State Department spokeswoman noted that an executive order that Obama signed on March 16 provided tools under which Washington could target such labour.

"The (executive order) includes the authority to target North Korea's exportation of labour in order to provide Treasury the flexibility to impose sanctions and ratchet up pressure as needed. At this time, we are closely studying the issue," said Gabrielle Price, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

A UN report in 2015 estimated over 50,000 North Koreans were working abroad, earning the state $1.2 billion to $2.3 billion annually, although some experts question these figures. Aside from China and Russia, many are believed to be working in African countries and on construction sites in the Middle East, including in Qatar which is preparing to host the 2022 World Cup.

The North Korean government captures the bulk of the foreign exchange earned by its workers abroad, analysts say, but they are allowed to send some back to their families. The Obama administration carefully weighed its request because of the potential effect on ordinary North Koreans. "We're talking to them not about termination but about a ramp down," said the US official.

The official said one can make an argument that North Korean workers abroad are treated as "slave labourers" but added that their working conditions abroad might be better than at home.