Seoul/Pyongyang, Dec 23 (IANS): A UN-imposed deadline for member countries to repatriate North Korean workers home has arrived, but many of them were expected to continue working abroad using stay permits other than work visas, experts said on Monday.
The US State Department earlier estimated that around 100,000 North Koreans were working abroad, bringing some $200-500 million to their home country every year, reports Yonhap News Agency.
In 2017, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution requiring member countries to send home all North Koreans earning income in their jurisdiction in two years following the North's series of nuclear and missile provocations.
The deadline was Sunday.
According to interim sanctions implementation reports submitted by the member countries, 23,267 North Korean workers have returned home.
But China, the North's economic lifeline that hosts the largest number of workers, declined to disclose its report.
Russia has repatriated 18,533 North Korean workers, though 11,490 still remain, according to its March report.
The repatriation deadline came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with the North threatening to seek a "new way" in its nuclear negotiations with the US unless Washington sweetens its negotiating proposal by the end of the year, said Yonhap News Agency.
On Sunday, the North's state media said leader Kim Jong-un presided over a key meeting of the ruling Workers' Party to discuss measures to "bolster up" its armed forces ahead of an expected plenary meeting.
North Korea said it will decide on "crucial issues" during a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party that will be held in the "latter part of December", raising speculation that a major policy shift might be forthcoming, possibly in relation to its denuclearization negotiations with the US.
The negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled since the second summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim in Hanoi collapsed without a deal in February.
US special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun urged the North to come back to the negotiating table during his recent trip to Asia, but Pyongyang has not responded to the call.