North Korean workers will start leaving Qatar and Kuwait after the two countries said they would stop renewing visas, cutting off a source of foreign income for Pyongyang after UN Security Council sanctions and pressure from the United States.
US President Donald Trump urged United Nations member states yesterday to turn up the pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, using his maiden speech to the world body to address what he has said is the top global challenge.
Several thousand North Korean workers reside in the Gulf region, mainly working on construction sites.
Kuwait hosts the only North Korean diplomatic mission in the region and this week took steps to expel the ambassador and downgrade ties.
Qatar, which is hosting the 2022 World Cup, said yesterday it was in full compliance with all UN sanctions and that it had stopped issuing visas to North Korean nationals following the previous round of sanctions in 2015.
“There have never been workers from North Korea working on any World Cup construction sites,” Qatar’s Government Communications Office said in a statement, adding some companies had employed North Koreans prior to 2015.
“Approximately 1,000 remain, but this number will decline rapidly as their employment contracts expire. Visas to North Korean nationals will not be renewed,” it said.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters the majority of North Koreans working in Qatar were expected to leave in the first six months of 2018 as they come to the end of their employment contracts.
A North Korean source said on Monday Kuwait had given ambassador So Chang Sik one month to leave the country, which hosts around 3,000 North Koreans.