European Countries Eye Reopening Embassies in North Korea after Pandemic Closures
As other European nations get ready for an expected return, a German team made its first trip to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, since the country’s embassy was closed during the epidemic.
According to a foreign office spokeswoman who spoke to Reuters, a delegation from the German Federal Foreign Office was presently in Pyongyang conducting a technical inspection visit.
“It is inspecting the site of the German embassy over a couple of days,” the spokesperson said, noting there was still no decision on reopening the embassy, which was closed in March 2020.
Many embassies closed in Pyongyang because they were unable to rotate staff or ship supplies during the COVID-19 crisis.
Already under authoritarian control, North Korea imposed some of the world’s strictest pandemic measures, including near-total travel bans and large-scale border walls, and has only recently begun easing international restrictions.
Britain, which closed its embassy and pulled all diplomatic staff from North Korea in May 2020, was also seeking to send a team, a Foreign Office spokesperson told Reuters.
“We are pleased that some diplomats are returning to Pyongyang and welcome DPRK moves to reopen the border,” the spokesperson said, using the initials of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We are in discussions with the DPRK government through its Embassy in London about arrangements for a visit soon by a UK technical-diplomatic team.”
Britain called on North Korea to allow the international community, including all diplomats and UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs, to enter the country, the spokesperson added.
Peter Semneby, Sweden’s special envoy for the Korean
Peninsula, told Reuters that there was some progress towards the eventual return of Swedish diplomats to Pyongyang, but declined to elaborate citing the sensitivity of the discussions.
“There is some movement and we hope that we can reestablish our embassy relatively soon,” he said.
One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that the shuttered facilities would need to be swept for listening devices, as well as cleared of insects and repaired after years of closure.
