WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- The United States is working hard with South Korea and Japan to cut off sources of income for North Korea, including coal trade and labor exports, the top State Department official in charge of Asian affairs said Tuesday.

Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs, made the remark in a written statement submitted to a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, saying the three countries are cooperating closely to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.


“We’re focusing our efforts on cutting off sources of revenue for the regime’s unlawful nuclear and ballistic weapons programs, including revenue generated through the coal trade and overseas by North Korean workers,” Russel said in the statement.

“Our three countries will continue to increase the costs on North Korea and target its revenue and reputation until it makes a strategic decision to return to serious talks on denuclearization and complies with its international obligations and commitments,” he said.

Russel said that the US has long expressed its willingness to hold “credible and authentic talks aimed at returning to the six-party talks on ending the North’s nuclear programs, but Pyongyang’s “litany of provocations demonstrates its rejection” of dialogue.

Exports of coal and other mineral resources are an important source of hard currency that accounts for nearly half of the North‘s total exports. The latest UN Security Council resolution bans such mineral exports unless they are intended for livelihood purposes.

Labor exports have also increasingly become a key source of income for Pyongyang.

About 50,000 North Koreans are believed to be toiling overseas, mainly in the mining, logging, textile and construction industries.

Such workers earn on average $120-150 per month while employers pay significantly higher amounts to the North’s government.

Russel also said that the US is in discussions with partners about tightening the financial screws on Pyongyang to “deny North Korea access to the international banking infrastructure that has been abused and manipulated in furtherance of its illicit programs.”

He was referring to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment.

“I think that our hope is that we will in fact ultimately be able to reach an agreement that would further restrict North Korea‘s access,” Russel said, adding that the US government is also looking at North Korean banks and banking activities in an effort to shut down “anything that might contribute to the illicit programs or otherwise violate the Security Council resolutions or our own laws.”