North Korea sending new batches of workers abroad: U.S. envoy

Kim Jong Un has sent new batches of his workers overseas since relaxing pandemic border controls and launched a fresh crackdown on his people, according to the U.S. point person for North Korean human rights.

“What we’ve seen is that the human rights situation in North Korea has worsened,” Julie Turner, the State Department’s special envoy on the country’s human rights issues, told reporters Wednesday during a visit to Tokyo. “COVID-19 allowed the North Korean government to tighten many of the controls inside North Korea.”

North Korea has sent its workers to Russia and China for years, where they earn hard currency desperately needed by Pyongyang in defiance of United Nations resolutions that ban the moves. Kim has recently stepped up cooperation with Russia through the transfer of arms to help Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine, the U.S. has said.