NKoreans helping to spruce up World Cup stadiums

Author: 
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Publication Date: 
Mon, 2010-03-15 17:15

Some 1,000 construction workers from reclusive North Korea, which maintains strict control on its citizens' travels, have been sent to help build and renovate stadiums across South Africa, the Seoul-based JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Monday, citing unidentified sources.
South Korea's Unification Ministry confirmed that North Koreans were working in South Africa. Spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said she had no information about how many were helping with World Cup construction.
North Korea has been exporting workers to Russia, the Middle East and Mongolia as part of efforts to earn much-needed foreign currency, she said. North Korea has sent up to 30,000 workers to 45 countries around the world, the JoongAng Ilbo report said.
Impoverished North Korea has relied on outside aid to help feed its 24 million people since natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy in the mid-1990s. The country's economic woes are believed to have worsened after the regime was punished with tightened sanctions in the wake of its nuclear and missile activities over the past year.
North Korea is expected to earn tens of millions of dollars from construction projects in South Africa, the JoongAng Ilbo said. It is North Korea's first major export of laborers to South Africa since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1998, the report said.
Among the World Cup venues utilizing North Korean labor are Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, site of the opening and closing ceremonies and final match, and Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, it said.
North Korea takes on Ivory Coast at Mbombela Stadium on June 25, after matches against Brazil and Portugal.
North Korea has qualified for the World Cup for the first time since its surprising run to the quarterfinals in 1966.

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