In the five years since Kim Jong Un took over, North Korea has dramatically stepped up the number of people it sends abroad to earn hard currency. At least 50,000 North Koreans — and by some estimates, double that — are working in more than two dozen foreign countries. [ North Korea conducts fifth nuclear test ]The North Koreans are sent abroad usually for three years and are still tightly controlled outside the totalitarian country. “We’ve been trying to explain to these countries that this [labor export] is not good for the North Korean people and that it’s aiding the North Korean regime,” said Kim Dong-jo, a spokesman for President Park Geun-hye. Returning to North Korea with even $1,000 or $2,000 could be transformational in a country tentatively moving toward marketization.

Source: Washington Post September 11, 2016 20:26 UTC