South confirms closure of seven North Korean embassies

North Korea

Published: 05 Dec. 2023, 19:31 Updated: 05 Dec. 2023, 19:35

South confirms closure of seven North Korean embassies

Kim Jong-un at a North Korean event on Sunday. [KOREAN CENTRAL TV/YONHAP]

North Korea shut down seven embassies due to financial struggles, said the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.

“North Korea recently shut its embassies in Guinea, Nepal, Bangladesh, Senegal, Spain, Angola and Uganda,” a Foreign Ministry official told the press in Seoul on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, North Korea's total number of embassies has dropped to 46 with these closures.

It cited financial struggles as the top reason for the closures.

“The embassies closure will lead to a 10 percent drop in their expenditures,” said the official. “This is evidence that the international efforts to cut the North off from its illicit funds are working to an extent.”

The ministry’s confirmation of the closure of seven embassies confirmed previous media reports about five of them. The closure of the embassies in Guinea and Senegal had previously been unreported.

The ministry did not confirm the reported closures of North Korean embassies in Hong Kong, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru.

“We comprehensively review whether the host country has been officially notified of the intention to withdraw the embassy, whether the national flag and signs have been removed from the embassy, and whether all members of the embassy have left the country before confirming a closure,” said the official.

The North Korean Embassy in Spain was one of several embassies of the North shut down in recent months. [REUTERS/NEWS1]

Last month, the North Korean Foreign Ministry announced that it would be adjusting its diplomatic missions abroad to respond to “changed geopolitical circumstances.”

The regime has been using its embassies as a base for earning foreign currency for decades by way of dispatching and exploiting overseas workers and forcing diplomats to smuggle in alcohol, jewelry and gold bars, and even sell counterfeit cigarettes.

For instance, the North Korean Embassy in Germany engaged in leasing activities banned by the Vienna Convention and UN sanctions against North Korea before it was caught in 2020.

North Korea had also received large payments in return for producing sculptures and statues, including the African Renaissance Monument erected in Senegal in 2010, a work by Mansudae Art Studio.

The North’s export of large-scale sculptures was largely banned after a UN resolution on the North in 2016 specifically banned member states from buying sculptures from the North.

Some experts said more embassy closures are expected in the North.

“The decision to shut down the embassies was being mulled from July 2019,” said Ryu Hyun-woo, a former deputy chief of mission of North Korea to Kuwait, who defected from the North in 2019. “I’d say up to 15 embassies can be shut down.”

Ryu said that the regime considers not only the diplomatic relationship with the host nation but also how lucrative maintenance of the embassy is, both economically and politically.

“North Korea is expected to reduce its diplomatic activities all around,” Ryu said. “Instead, it will prioritize relations with traditional allies such as China, Russia, Syria and Cuba.”

BY PARK HYUN-JU, ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]