The number of North Koreans who received Russian visas dropped by 52% between 2019 and 2020, with thousands leaving the country last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new government data.

Nearly 14,000 North Koreans left Russia last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic while 1,800 DPRK citizens entered the country under other circumstances, Russian Federal State Statistics Service (FSSS) data shows.

U.N. sanctions banned North Koreans from receiving new work visas in 2017, and countries had until Dec. 2019 to repatriate them back to the DPRK. In line with those rules, the FSSS stated that zero North Koreans received a