North Korea's state media reported Wednesday that the country has opened an embassy in Belarus, where thousands of North Korean workers are said to be working to earn hard currency for their impoverished nation.

An inauguration ceremony was held in Minsk on Monday, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

"Present there on invitation were personages of the government, political parties, parliament and social circles of Belarus," it said.

The report said a delegation headed by a director from the North's foreign ministry was also present at the ceremony.

The North is said to have some 58,000 laborers working in some 40 countries, including Belarus, China, Russia and Vietnam, to earn foreign currency for the communist regime.

Pyongyang remains cut off from many sources of hard currency by a series of international sanctions following its military provocations that included its first-ever nuclear test dating back to October 2006. The North has since conducted four more nuclear tests with the latest test taking place just earlier this month.

"The director wished the Korean people bigger successes in the work for social and economic development of the country," the KCNA report said. (Yonhap)