Russia, North Korea to sign agreement on migrant labour

MOSCOW, May 11 (UNI) Russia and North Korea will sign an agreement on the use of temporary labour of one another's nationals, the Russian government said today.

The move will correct an absence of an international agreement on external labour migration between the two countries.

North Korea is fourth among countries outside the former USSR in terms of the number of labour migrants working in Russia. In 2004, about 15,000 North Koreans worked in Russia, in 2005, more than 20,000, and in 2006, over 21,700.

"The implementation of the agreement's provisions will make possible the normalisation of the process of attracting and using the labour of North Korean and Russian citizens carrying out labour activity in both states, increase their social protection and strengthen the guarantees that their rights as workers are observed," the government said.

The signing of the agreement will also create legal bases to fight illegal migration.

The Russian co-chairman of an intergovernmental commission said in April that North Korea expects Russia to wipe out its 8.8 billion dollars Soviet-era debt.

Konstantin Pulikovsky said the North Koreans are looking for a solution to the debt problem "at the head of state level," adding that Pyongyang expects its debt will be written off.

He said earlier that North Korea was unable to repay its debt to Russia and wants it to make "a political decision" on the issue, while the bilateral intergovernmental commission for economic and technological cooperation, which met in Moscow in March following a six-year break, is unable to make such a decision.

"Such decisions fall within the scope of the countries' top leadership," he said.

Debt negotiations were broken off in 2002. Pyongyang requested almost all its debt to be canceled, while Moscow offered various debt conversion schemes, including debt-for-asset swaps.

But North Korea said there were legal impediments to such schemes.

UNI