Countries that use migrant workers from North Korea, including Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup, may be in breach of UN sanctions against the North, according to a report by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
The research argues that North Korean workers, who are sent abroad primarily to earn foreign currency for the reclusive nation, play an important part in the regime's attempts to avoid international sanctions, which were put in place in response to its nuclear tests.
"Earnings are not sent back as remittances, but appropriated by the state and transferred back to the country in the form of bulk cash, in clear violation on UN sanctions," the report says.
Defectors' groups estimate there are up to 65,000 North Koreans working in about 40 countries. The number of workers sent abroad has doubled or tripled since Kim Jong-un came to power in 2011.
Park Inho, president of Daily NK, an online newspaper focusing on North Korea, said: "[Workers are sent abroad] because Kim Jong-un, like Kim Jong-il, needs funds to develop and invest in nuclear bombs and missiles. Kim Jong-un also wants to build more facilities and buildings, as well as to boost the North Korean economy, to promote himself."
UN Security Council resolution 2094 requires states to prevent the "transfer of any financial or other assets or resources, including bulk cash" that may contribute to Pyongyang's nuclear or ballistic missile programmes.