Some North Korean workers remain in Vietnam on temporary visas now four months past a UN deadline requiring their repatriation, Hanoi said in a recent report to the UN, blaming precautions taken by the DPRK government to prevent a potential spread of the coronavirus in its territory for the delay.

According to Vietnam’s final implementation report on the DPRK laborers measure, “to date, there are 31 nationals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remaining in” the country.