Japan urges Qatar to quit hiring North Korean labor

Cairo- 11 September, 2017: Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono asked his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to have the Qatari emirate stop hiring North Korean workers during a meeting held between two on Saturday in Doha.

Kono met the Qatari Foreign Minister as scheduled in the tour the first is taking in the Middle East for six days started by visiting the rich gas emirate. The Japanese Foreign Minister justified his country’s request from Qatari authorities by mentioning the latest proposals made by UN officials to pass sanctions against North Korea given its repeated nuclear tests.

The Japanese Foreign Minister told Qatari officials that his country will mediate between the tiny emirate and four Arab states to realize a settlement for the three-month political rift known by “Gulf states crisis”.

Kono offered Japanese mediation in return for the tiny emirate’s halt of hiring North Korean labor, adding that both Saudi Arabia and Egypt are destination of his Middle Eastern tour.

Four Arab states including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab of Emirates cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing the latter of financing terrorism and destabilizing the region.