Over five hundred North Korean laborers remain in Russia, the country’s government said in a sanctions implementation report submitted to the UN this month, with DPRK border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic having reportedly prevented them from being repatriated.

The laborers have had their work permits revoked, Russia said, in line with the country’s obligations under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2397, which required member states repatriate all North Koreans earning currency in their territory by the end of 2019.

But the DPRK’s decision to effectively close its borders and suspend all travel in to and out of the country in early January has meant that the workers remain in Russian territory, Moscow said.

“In view of the novel coronavirus disease pandemic, Pyongyang has unilaterally halted transport links with other States,” the report, made public on the website of the UN’s 1718 committee, reads. 

“For this objective reason, not all persons in the indicated category were able to leave the Russian Federation,” it continued. “As at 10 March 2020, the number of such persons in our country was 511.”

Rules prohibiting member states from hosting North Korean laborers came into effect on December 22, with Russia saying this week that 1,003 DPRK citizens had been resident in its territory at that time.

Moscow previously reported that logistical issues were preventing their repatriation, however, even before North Korean border closures went into effect.

Speaking to press on January 15, a senior Russian diplomat said almost all of the 11,490 North Koreans reported to have been working in the country’s territory last year had been sent home.

Those that remained, Pyotr Ilyichev — who heads the Russian foreign ministry’s Department of International Organizations — said, were being prevented from leaving by “logistic” issues.

The following week, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Maria Zakharova said “about a thousand” DPRK laborers remained in the country’s territory.

“Due to objective difficulties, sending all by December 22 failed,” she said. “Only one North Korean airline serves flights to Russia. It operates no more than two flights a week. The possibilities of railway transport are also limited.”

Half of those workers now appear to have been sent home, though it’s unclear when or how those remaining will be repatriated.

Edited by James Fretwell