North Korea to outsource labor to China

(Ecns.cn) -- A total of 120,000 residents of North Korea will be sent to China to labor in the country's manufacturing and service industries by the end of this year, according to a report from South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper cited by China Economic Weekly.

It is the first time for the country to send workers to China on such a large scale. The move is seen as a partial solution to the loss of North Korean factory jobs following financial sanctions by South Korea, said Jin Qiang, dean of the Northeastern Asian Research Institute at Yanbian University in Jilin Province.

The workers, all skilled in sectors such as textiles, food production and information technology, are also being imported to help ease labor shortages in China's northeastern provinces.

Don't fall in love

Over 20,000 work visas for jobs with good salaries are to be granted to eligible North Korean workers, according to Chosun Ilbo. Jilin Province has already hired many of them.

In May, a company in Jilin's city of Tumen hired 29 of the country's female workers. It has added another 160 North Korean women to the city's manufacturing and service industries since then.

According to China Economic Weekly, the movements of the migrant workers are tightly controlled: They are only allowed to move between factory and dormitory, and cannot communicate with Chinese people.

Yet some do. A North Korean waitress at a local restaurant told the China Economic Weekly that she has been in China for more than two years, but will return to her motherland once her three-year contract is up.

The woman said she graduated from Pyongyang University of Music and likes singing and dancing, but is not allowed to use a mobile phone or "fall in love" while in China.

The North Korean government is very picky about those it sends to work here; the lucky ones must be very loyal, and have relatives in the Workers' Party, said the waitress.

Competitive salaries?

In Tumen, the local minimum wage is 830 yuan (US$130) a month, while North Korean workers normally get about 1,500 yuan (US$234), a competitive salary even for local Chinese, said China Economic Weekly.

Depending on the sectors, some North Korean workers make more than US$300 a month and get free meals. Experts say such jobs are likely seen as a privilege, since wages are well under US$10 a month in North Korea and food is scarce for many families.

Even though the pay may be relatively handsome, the workers are not allowed to keep the majority of it. To meet the North Korean government's requirements, each of them must send about US$2,000 a year back to Pyongyang. Out of salaries of US$200 to $300 a month, workers get to keep about $50.

This practice is seen by other countries as a way for North Korea to accumulate foreign exchange reserves in the face of increasing economic pressure.

In the past, most North Korean workers in China were illegal and did hard labor for a dollar a day and bowls of rice. The new arrangement at least makes them legal and feeds them better.

Strict requirements

Jilin's Huichun city has been eager to hire workers from North Korea since 2010, but it has not been easy. Although the North Korean government has been willing, it also has many conditions, according to the China Economic Weekly.

From March to June this year, six companies in Dandong, Liaoning Province, have applied to hire North Korean workers, but only one has succeeded so far.

North Korea only allows its labor force to work in China's manufacturing and service industries. Moreover, companies must have registered capital of US$1 million and proof that taxes have been paid for at least one year to qualify.

The North Korean government will then send a labor union to negotiate housing and salaries with the companies before a deal can be struck.

Over the years, North Korea has exported smaller numbers of workers to countries such as Russia, Libya, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Angola and the Czech Republic. This time, China's program will import hundreds of thousands of laborers, a historic breakthrough.