Special to WorldTribune.com

By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com

China has moved to accept more legal North Korean workers while searching for and kicking out illegal border crossers in a bid to “purify” its northeastern border — an area in which many North Korean refugees are hiding, creating a long-standing diplomatic headache for Beijing.

China has started issuing work visas for as many as 20,000 North Koreans allowing them to work in the Chinese border provinces, according to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo.

The North Koreans would be allowed to work in the provinces of Jilin, Liaoning and Heilongjiang.

A group of 29 North Korean women have already been hired to work at a Chinese company in Tumen, Jilin Province after obtaining visas, the newspaper reported.

Another 160 women recently arrived in Tumen to work in the border province.

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  000 N. Koreans to legalize rampant border-crossing, China issues work visas to 20, China’s northeastern border, Heilongjiang, Jilin Province, Liaoning, Tumen