North Korean and Syrian officials signed a series of agreements in Damascus on Wednesday covering trade, laborers, scientific and technical cooperation, and dozens of other areas, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). 

DPRK Ministry of External Economic Relations chief Kim Yong Jae arrived in Damascus on Saturday to begin the 11th round of meetings under the DPRK-Syria Joint Economic Committee with his counterpart Mamoun Hamdan, head of the Syrian Ministry of Finance (MOF).

In terms of utilizing North Korean laborers in Syria — a practice technically prohibited under UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions — the main area of