Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reports North Korea asked China to hire North Koreans previously working at the suspended inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex.

The daily quoted a Chinese official as saying on Thursday that a high-level North Korean provincial official visited Dandong City last month and requested that Pyongyang be allowed to expand the number of North Korean workers it sends to China.

The Chinese official said he was told that skilled employees who used to work at the Gaeseong industrial park are in need of work.

The Chinese reportedly expressed reluctance toward the request.

In protest of combined South Korea-U.S. military drills early last month, the North withdrew some 53-thousand workers from the joint venture in Gaeseong.