US-ROK-Japan North Korea Nuclear Representatives "North Korean Overseas Workers Must Be Repatriated"

First Joint Statement Since the Inauguration of the Yoon Seok-yeol Government

South Korea, the United States, and Japan jointly urged the international community to repatriate North Korean overseas workers who earn foreign currency while residing abroad.

The senior representatives on North Korea's nuclear issue from the three countries stated in a joint communiqu? released on the 7th after a trilateral meeting in Seoul, "We urge all UN member states to fully implement the UN Security Council resolutions."

Our chief nuclear envoy Kim Gun, head of the Korean Peninsula Peace Negotiation Headquarters, U.S. chief envoy Sung Kim, U.S. Department of State Special Representative for North Korea, and Japanese chief envoy Funakoshi Takehiro, Director of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met and shook hands on the morning of the 7th at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jongno-gu, Seoul, during the South Korea-U.S.-Japan senior nuclear envoy talks.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The three senior representatives emphasized, "UN member states must repatriate all North Korean workers earning income within their jurisdictions in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2397 adopted in 2017."

They added, "UN member states should remain vigilant and ensure that labor permits for overseas North Korean workers are neither renewed nor newly granted in compliance with Security Council Resolution 2375 of 2017, and must also respond to North Korea's attempts to evade sanctions."

The three senior representatives also expressed concern that "North Korea's overseas IT (Information Technology) personnel continue to disguise their identities and nationalities to evade Security Council sanctions and earn income abroad that is used to fund North Korea's illicit weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs."

Furthermore, they "condemned human rights violations and abuses within North Korea and emphasized the importance of strengthening cooperation to improve the human rights situation in North Korea," expressing concern over abductees and unresolved prisoners of war. They also reiterated calls for North Korea to halt provocations and return to denuclearization talks, with the U.S. and Japan expressing support for the South Korean government's 'Bold Initiative' goals.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "We will encourage the international community's active efforts to ensure that sanctions against North Korea are implemented thoroughly without any gaps, thereby persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear development."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.