The federal government is said to have barred Pakistan missions abroad from issuing visas to nationals of North Korea, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, recently the US embassy in Islamabad expressed concern on "rumours' of possible employment of DPRK nationals working for the Chinese companies operating on CPEC projects in Pakistan.
"This issue is extremely sensitive and could be exploited to discredit Pakistan for violating UNSC sanctions regime on DPRK," the sources quoted Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying. Ministry of Interior recently informed the federal cabinet that UNSC Resolution 2375 (2017) and subsequent SRO 1221(1)/2017 (November 21, 2017) promulgated by the Government of Pakistan places a ban on issuing work authorities/visa to all Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nationals except for which written contracts had been finalised prior to September 11, 2017.
Under the same resolution, all UN member states are obliged to repatriate all DPRK nationals earning income in their territories latest by December 22, 2019. It was also informed that under the UNSC Resolution 2375, Pakistan is compiling its mid-term report in which all DPRK nationals' income in respective of territories and subsequently repatriated are required to be reported.
The sources said, given the forgoing, the visa policy needs to reflect that grant of visas to all DPRK nationals will be governed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the sanctions regime and subsequent SROs issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All Missions abroad will continue to refer visa cases of DPRK nationals to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Federal Cabinet considered the summary of Ministry of Interior for work visas to North Korean (DPRK) nationals and approved the proposal that grant of visas to all DPRK nationals will be governed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the sanctions regime and subsequent SROs issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "All Missions abroad will continue to refer visa cases of DPRK nationals to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the sources maintained.