About 100 North Korean workers granted work visas by Russian authorities received temporary asylum in Russia, the Russian Agency of International Information (RIA Novosti) reported on Tuesday.

The head of Russia’s Federal Migration Service Vladimir Brooks said that the laborers received temporary asylum on humanitarian grounds in recent years, but that “only a few” were granted permanent refugee status, RIA Novosti reported.

Russia is not well known as a destination for North Korean refugees, sharing just a 17km long border with the DPRK. But the country has long been a key destination for North Korean laborers officially sent to