The presence of North Korean workers in places like Malta was likely endorsed by the North Korean regime, according to Yang Mujin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, South Korea.
Prof. Mujin was reacting to findings by KCIJ-Newstapa, partners of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, that a North Korean linked to the country’s former leader Kim Jong-il had set up shop in Malta.
Using data found in the Paradise Papers, KCIJ-Newstapa found that in 2011, Song Hui set up a company in Malta called Kormal Import & Export.
The Paradise Papers were leaked to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the ICIJ and its media partners across the globe, including the Times of Malta.
KCIJ-Newstapa identified Ms Song as a prominent businesswoman in North Korea who ran the Pyongyang Optical Store and headed Koryo Shimchong, a general trading company.
The Pyongyang Optical Store was officially thanked by the former North Korean leader for “sincerely taking care of” North Korean soldiers.
Ms Song told a South Korean magazine in a 2004 interview her father had been praised by former Premier Kim Il-sung as a “patriotic businessman.”
Half of Kormal’s shares are owned by Ms Song, the rest belonging to a company called Solidago Limited, whose director is construction magnate George Gatt.
The Korea Times last year quoted an executive from Rite-Mix, a construction company linked to Mr Gatt, saying that all of its 15 North Korean employees had left the country after having difficulties extending their work permits.
These cases involved backing from the one-party State
Reuters also reported that Malta had denied visa extensions for North Korean workers, effectively expelling them, due to a diplomatic campaign by South Korea and human rights groups
Prof. Mujin said that, with international sanctions, one way that North Korea earned foreign currency was by sending labourers abroad.
He noted it was highly unlikely a North Korean could set up a company without the approval of the regime. “In my opinion, these cases involved backing from the one-party State,” he told KCIJ-Newstapa.
The extent of North Korean workers’ presence in Malta became widely known in 2014 after the police found widespread human rights abuses at the Leisure Clothing factory in Ħal-Far. This newspaper reported last year that the majority of North Korean workers in Malta were employed at Leisure Clothing.
Statistics provided by JobsPlus in August indicated that they have now left the island. Malta went from a peak of 50 North Korean workers in 2014 to not a single one this year.
North Koreans employed in Malta
(Full-time and part-time)
2010 – 5
2011 – 16
2012 – 25
2013 – 42
2014 – 50
2015 – 44
2016 – 1
2017 (first quarter) – 0
Source: JobsPlus