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North Korea Embassy in Madrid (2019)
Photo: Sergio Perez / REUTERS
There is talk of "one of the country's biggest foreign policy upheavals in decades": North Korea reportedly wants to close up to a dozen embassies worldwide. About 25 percent of Pyongyang's diplomatic missions – including Spain, Hong Kong and several African countries – could be lost, Chad O'Carroll, founder of the website NK Pro, which specializes in North Korea, said on Tuesday.
The embassy closures will have an impact on diplomatic engagement, humanitarian work in the isolated country and the possibility of illicit income. North Korea currently has official relations with 159 countries and has 53 diplomatic missions abroad, including three consulates and three missions.
The Unification Ministry in Seoul, which is responsible for inter-Korean affairs, said the withdrawal reflected the impact of international sanctions aimed at curbing funding for North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Money worries could be triggers
"They appear to be pulling back because their foreign exchange operations have stalled due to the tightening of sanctions by the international community, making it more difficult to maintain embassies," the ministry said. This could be a sign of North Korea's difficult economic situation and related problems in maintaining even minimal diplomatic relations with traditionally friendly countries.
North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency reported on Monday that the country's ambassadors paid "farewell visits" to the leaders of Angola and Uganda last week. Local media in the two African countries reported on the closure of North Korean embassies.
Correspondence with the Spanish Communist Party, published on the party's website, shows that the North Korean embassy announced the closure in a letter dated October 26. South Korea's Yonhap news agency wrote that Spain's affairs would be handled by the representation in Italy.
jok/Reuters