Waiting game for North Korean workers in China as shutdown deadline looms
It’s business as usual for now, and one diplomat believes some firms will find a way to keep operating
On a quiet street in the embassy district of Beijing, a neon-lit national flag forms an impressive backdrop to an almost empty North Korean restaurant as young waitresses sent from Pyongyang stand around waiting for customers.
“Business has been going down for a while,” one of them said as she flipped through a menu featuring North Korean seafood and Australian beef. “It’s not doing well.”
Their future is uncertain – the restaurant is one of many that will be forced to close after the Chinese government ordered all North Korean businesses to shut down within 120 days from September 11. That was the date the United Nations Security Council imposed a tough new round of sanctions against Pyongyang over its repeated ballistic missile and nuclear tests.
There are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 North Koreans working in about 50 countries, most of them in China and Russia, earning the regime some US$500 million a year, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency and the United States.
But many of those working in China may have to return home soon because – in line with the latest UN sanctions – Chinese companies cannot hire new North Korean workers or renew existing contracts.