No new work permits for North Koreans in Poland: officials

Their comments came after The New York Times reported that "Poland is “one of the few countries still hosting North Korean workers over Washington’s objections.”

But Polish Labour Minister Elżbieta Rafalska told reporters that province governors in Poland had not issued any new work permits to North Korean nationals since August 5 last year.

Rafalska also said that Polish province governors had repealed 74 previously issued permits since August 1 last year.

Deputy Labour Minister Stanisław Szwed told a news conference on Wednesday that around 400 North Korean nationals still held "old" work permits in Poland.

Such permits are being phased out, Szwed said.

The European Union in October agreed to stop renewing work permits for North Koreans, Polish Radio’s IAR news agency noted.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that the Polish government has pledged to phase out work permits for North Koreans, "but the practice continues.”

According to the paper, North Korea has sent tens of thousands of labourers to countries around the world to work in “logging, mining and construction ventures while taking a hefty slice of their earnings.”

The United States has been lobbying other countries to expel such workers and "eliminate a source of hard currency for the North Korean economy," The New York Times said.

“But the continued presence of these workers in Poland — a NATO ally at the heart of the European Union — underscores how difficult it is to fully sever North Korea from the global economy, even as the nation accelerates efforts to build a nuclear missile capable of striking the United States,” the paper added.

In December, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution requiring all countries to expel North Korean workers within two years, The New York Times noted in an article entitled “Even in Poland, Workers’ Wages Flow to North Korea.”

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR, The New York Times