China and Russia Reportedly Send Home Half of Their North Korean Near Slave Labor Workers

Via a reader tip comes this news which I am not sure I believe is actually true:

China and Russia have sent home more than half of their North Korean workers, likely tens of thousands of people, according to reports submitted to the UN North Korean Security Council sanctions committee.

Russia’s report said that the number of North Korean workers with valid work permits decreased from 30,023 to 11,490 persons.
In its report, China, the strongest ally of North Korea, said more of half of its income-earning North Korean nationals had been repatriated.

A UN diplomat confirmed to CNN that one-page reports from Beijing and Moscow were sent to the committee on sanctions, as required by a December 2017 Council resolution demanding repatriation of all North Korean workers by the end of this year. 
Reuters first reported this story. CNN could not immediately confirm the figures given and China has previously been accused of trying to find ways around North Korea sanctions.China’s report also noted that it does not wish for the submission to be made public.

CNN

You can read more at the link, but it appears that there is no corroboration of the claims made by Russia and China that they actually sent these near-slave labor workers home. If they did that would be another major cut in foreign revenue to the Kim regime.

This could also help explain why Kim Jong-Un is reportedly planning a trip to Russia to meeting with President Putin.