North Korea is poised to close as many as a dozen embassies, including in Spain, Hong Kong and multiple countries in Africa, to media reports and analysts said, in a move that could see nearly 25 percent of Pyongyang’s missions close worldwide.
North Korea’s recent closing of its diplomatic missions was a sign that the reclusive country is struggling to make money overseas because of international sanctions, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said on Tuesday.
On Monday, North Korean state media outlet Korean Central News Agency said the country’s ambassadors paid “farewell” visits to Angolan and Ugandan leaders last week, and local media in both African countries reported the shutdown of the North’s embassies there.
Photo: AFP / Korean Central News Agency via KNS
Angola and Uganda have forged friendly ties with North Korea since the 1970s, maintaining military cooperation and providing rare sources of foreign currency such as statue-building projects.
The embassy closings set the stage for what could be “one of the country’s biggest foreign policy shake-ups in decades,” with implications for diplomatic engagement, humanitarian work in the isolated country, as well as the ability to generate illicit revenue, wrote Chad O’Carroll, founder of the North Korea-focused Web site NK Pro.
More than a dozen missions might close, likely because of international sanctions, a trend of Pyongyang’s disengaging globally and the probable weakening of the North Korean economy, he said in a report yesterday.
Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the pullout reflected the effects of international sanctions aimed at curbing funding for the North’s nuclear and missile programs.
“They appear to be withdrawing as their foreign currency earning business has stumbled due to the international community’s strengthening of sanctions, making it difficult to maintain the embassies any longer,” the ministry said in a statement. “This can be a sign of North Korea’s difficult economic situation, where it is difficult to maintain even minimal diplomatic relations with traditionally friendly countries.”
North Korea has formal relations with 159 countries, but had 53 diplomatic missions overseas, including three consulates and three representative offices, until it pulled out of Angola and Uganda, the ministry said.
North Korea is also to shut down its embassy in Spain, with its mission in Italy handling affairs in the neighboring country, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
In a letter posted on the Spanish Communist Party’s Web site, the North Korean embassy announced the closing on Thursday last week.
North Korea’s embassy in Madrid was in the spotlight after members of a group seeking the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un staged a break-in in 2019, during which they bound and gagged staff before driving off with computers and other devices.
Pyongyang denounced the incident as a “grave breach of sovereignty and terrorist attack,” and accused the US of not investigating the group thoroughly and refusing to extradite its leader.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS