North Koreans are needed to do the dangerous jobs, says Malaysia | World news

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  • North Koreans are needed to do the dangerous jobs, says Malaysia | World news | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/24/-sp-north-korea-malaysia-mine-labour

    After a North Korean was among those killed in a mine explosion at the weekend, Malaysia’s deputy home minister, Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, told reporters that the men had been working legally under a special agreement between Pyongyang and authorities in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.

    “When it comes to industries such as coal mines, the jobs are very dangerous and tough,” Wan Junaidi said. “No local or Sarawakian will dare to take up such jobs — that is why [we] need foreign workers. In the coal-mining sector, only Britain, China and North Korea have highly-skilled workers.”

    Defectors’ groups claim there may be as many as 65,000 North Koreans currently working abroad — primarily in China, Russia, Mongolia and the Middle East — where they are sent to jobs in construction, forestry, factories, restaurants and mines.

    They have questioned the ethics of using North Korean workers, amid suggestions that their salaries are paid directly to the government in Pyongyang.