In 2017, the UN Security Council (UNSC) reinforced sanctions against North Korea, in a bid to force the so-called “Hermit Kingdom” to abandon its nuclear programme and ballistic missile tests.

The sanctions included restrictions on exports, as well as on whether workers and businesses could operate in foreign countries. Nevertheless, there are widespread allegations that the North Korean regime has exploited the loophole of the sanctions and maintains its illegal business in foreign countries.

It is alleged that at least one North Korean business was operating in the Kingdom, with money being sent back to Pyongyang to finance its nuclear programme, with the expat workers families’ effectively held hostage.

Pyongyang massage in Sen Sok

According to residents of Trong Moan village, near the SEATV Station in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, a physical therapy business, formerly known as “Kantai Cabinet”, was run by a North Korean couple.

In 2019, the business was forced to remove its hoardings by the local authorities. The villagers believe the removal order may have been related to the implementation of UN sanctions on North Korean businesses. 

Nevertheless, they say the business continued to operate in secrecy until it closed its doors near the end of April this year. Kantai Cabinet can be still be found on Google Maps, and is designated as a hospital. 

Village residents claimed that the couple shuttered the business and moved to North Korea. They reportedly informed their landlord that they were returning home to take care of sick parents, while their neighbours were unaware of their departure.

Chum Sounry, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, told this reporter Cambodia has implemented the UNSC Resolution on North Korea.

He explained that the ministry coordinated with all relevant ministries to take appropriate action. Since 2017, Cambodia has not granted work authorisation to North Korean workers, and their visas have not been extended since 2019.

“Cambodia has closed all North Korean businesses, including restaurants and companies operating in the country, such as the Angkor Panorama Museum in Siem Reap province. We have already submitted a national report on the implementation of the UNSC Decision on Sanctions on North Korea to the UNSC Sanctions Committee,” he added.

Applying the UN sanctions

Sok Veasna, director-general of the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Immigration, explained that Cambodia only accepts North Korean tourists for 30-day tourist visas, and that they are not allowed to stay permanently or operate a business. 

“We do not allow them [North Koreans] to stay anymore or do business, as far as I know, we are not allowed them to stay,” he clarified.

North Korea had good relations with Cambodia under former King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who maintained a palace near Pyongyang.

Following the UN sanctions, however, relations became strained as North Korea continued to operate illegal businesses in the Kingdom.

In 2023, the Cambodian government shut down an illegal restaurant called the Blue Flower in the capital’s Toul Kork, following its appearance in a viral social media video.

During a mid-May meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Prime Minister Hun Manet highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to implement UN sanctions on North Korea. 

Up to $3k per month

According to the villagers, around three or four patients visited the Sen Sok clinic per day. They said most of the clients were repeat customers or friends of the couple they said, adding that some had received recommendations from friends or relatives.

Each appointment cost $10 or $20, suggesting that the business generated from $50 to $100 per day. The landlord appeared sympathetic to the couple, revealing that they lived quietly and frugally.

According to a February report by the BBC, North Korean workers in foreign countries are forced to send most of their earnings to the Pyongyang regime, while maintaining modest lifestyles in their adopted countries. 

The report estimated that expat workers and businesses earned $740 million for the regime from 2017 to 2023. At present, more than 100,000 North Korean workers are believed to be posted abroad, many of them in factories or construction sites run by their government in Asia. 

Each of them is kept under close surveillance by the Pyongyang regime, with the BBC claiming that their relatives are effective hostages that ensure that the workers will not attempt to escape or defect.

Possibly in support of this, the Sen Sok landlord noted that the couple said they had children living in North Korea, but did not receive a visit from them in the seven years they were living at the property.

The couple claimed that the children were studying in their home country.

Phil Robertson, former Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch and current director of the Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA), explained that the North Korean government worked hard to control all of its citizens no matter where they are, and especially those who are permitted to cross the tightly-controlled borders of the “Hermit Kingdom”.

“Any North Koreans who may be living in Cambodia are certainly required to do something for their government, in order to be allowed to continue to live outside the country,” he added.

Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, noted that Cambodia has consistently complied with all UN resolutions on North Korea, with measures taken to shutter all North Korean businesses. 

“It is an international decision. The North Korean government should understand that Cambodia has done this out of respect for the UN resolution, not to punish North Korea,” he explained.

 

Samban Chandara is a freelance journalist with an interest in regional affairs, diplomacy and security issues.