Malaysian authorities are looking for 117 North Koreans, who overstayed their work permits, according to the immigration Department of the country. Datuk Mustafar Ali, Director General of the immigration Department of Malaysia, said Tuesday that authorities are looking for North Korean workers.

North Koreans have been temporarily forbidden to leave Malaysia during a three-week diplomatic row with Pyongyang after the death of Kim Jong-Nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN.

All 117 North Koreans are Sarawak, Ali said. According to the state news Agency "bernama", it is the only state, which employs North Korean workers, said the Minister for immigration in the country. Ali said that workers were given one week to they came, and he said that his Department knows their whereabouts.

"We will go after them, as their work permits expired, and therefore they are considered as illegal workers," he said. "But first, we would like to give them or their employer a week notice of their voluntary inclusion".

Ali did not say which companies had been working men, but said they were in the coal and construction industries. In the past Koreans worked in a Malaysian coal industry. In 2014, 46 North Koreans were employed at a coal mine Selantic in Sarawak, when the explosion occurred, which killed 3 people, including North Koreans, according to "Bernama".

I believe that domestic coal is the largest source of foreign currency for North Korea. It accounted for a third of all exports by Pyongyang in 2015. According to the report of the United Nations, North Korea sends thousands of workers abroad and their wages, believed to amount to billions of dollars.
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