The UN Security Council ordered nations to stop providing guest worker permits to North Koreans and the US has been pushing for more sanctions after Pyongyang tested another intercontinental ballistic missile in late November.

South Korea has called on Mongolia to take more of an active part in the international community’s sanctions against North Korea. South Korea’s Defense Minister Song Yong-moo met with Mongolian Minister of Defense N.Enkhbold on December 7, agreeing on a more cooperative efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issue, reported the Seoul’s defense ministry.

Song Yong-moo asked Mongolia to take an active part in the international community’s sanctions on North Korea for its illicit weapons development.

Song requested Mongolia’s efforts to persuade the North to denuclearize itself in consideration of their traditional diplomatic ties, according to the ministry.

Seoul sees Mongolia as a channel to North Korea seeing as Ulaanbaatar has enjoyed relatively friendly relations with the country since 1948, the year the DPRK was founded.

Minister of Defense N.Enkhbold responded positively and said that Mongolia would continue to cooperate with South Korea on the North’s threats to jeopardize the peace and stability of the peninsula and the world.

The ministers also agreed to push for the expansion of military partnerships and defense industry cooperation between their countries.

Minister of Defense N.Enkhbold was on a visit to Seoul to attend the South Korea-Mongolia business forum. He extended his invitation to visit Ulaanbaatar to Minister Song Yong-moo.

North Koreans have to leave Mongolia by the end of the year as their one-year work authorization will not be renewed, the labor ministry said.

“Private entities will not be able to offer new contracts due to the UN resolution. Mongolia has been following every part of the resolution,” Shijeekhuugiin Odonbaatar, a Mongolian foreign ministry official told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

According to statistics, there were a total of 1,190 North Korean citizens working in Mongolia as of November 2017. The peak number of North Korean workers was in 2013 when Mongolia employed more than 2,123 guest workers.