North Korea has shut down multiple diplomatic missions across the world because of apparent economic difficulties, according to reports.
In a diplomatic notice shared with the People’s Communist Party of Spain, Pyongyang announced the permanent closure of its embassy in Madrid, saying that going forward, all matters involving Spain will be handled by the embassy in Italy.
“From now on, the Embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in Italy will be in charge of affairs with Spain,” the Oct. 26 notice published on the Spanish communist group’s website states.
North Korea established diplomatic ties with Spain in 2001 and opened its Madrid office in 2013. The head of the North Korean delegation, chargé d'affaires So Yuk-sun, didn’t elaborate on the reason behind the embassy’s closure.
Mr. So took office in 2017, when the Spanish government declared his predecessor, Kim Hyok-chol, a persona non grata following Pyongyang’s sixth and largest nuclear weapon test and ballistic missile launches. Mr. Kim would later become a negotiator at the 2019 summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, which ended without any deal or agreement.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun has reported that Pyongyang is planning to shut down its consulate in Hong Kong and “more than a dozen” other diplomatic outposts because of alleged financial problems.
“The consulate general in Hong Kong has been a base for the country to obtain foreign currency and procure goods,” the Japanese paper reported. “North Korea is believed to have found it increasingly difficult to maintain the office due to the high cost of living in the region.”
South Korea’s unification ministry, which oversees inter-Korean relations, also attributed the embassy closures to the country’s worsening economic shape.
“The flurry of measures appears to show that it is no longer feasible for the North to maintain diplomatic missions as their efforts to obtain foreign currency have stumbled due to strengthened sanctions,” a ministry official said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
South Korea will host U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Nov. 8 and 9. The visit comes amid growing concerns about North Korea’s military cooperation with Russia.
“Such weapons deliveries, several of which we now confirm have been completed, will significantly increase the human toll of Russia’s war of aggression,” the Oct. 25 joint statement reads.
North Korea and Russia, both under sanctions led by the United States and its allies, have recently taken steps to form closer military ties. It has been speculated that North Korea is secretly providing conventional arms to refill Russia’s depleted arsenal, especially after Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia’s Far East in September to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visit key military facilities.
“In return for its support to Russia, the DPRK is seeking military assistance to advance its own military capabilities,” the three diplomats said, adding that they are particularly concerned about Moscow potentially transferring nuclear- or ballistic missile-related technology to Pyongyang.
“Such transfers would jeopardize the ongoing efforts of the international community to keep sensitive technologies out of the hands of actors who are working to destabilize regional security, threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as well as across the globe, and necessitate renewed efforts to respond appropriately across all elements of our national power to the advancing DPRK WMD threat.”
