North Korea continues to close many of its restricted embassies around the world, further raising suspicions of an ongoing financial crisis.
The hermit government is closing its embassy in Nepal, according to reports published Friday.
This is at least the fifth country North Korea has consciously withdrawn from in recent months, ostensibly for diplomatic restructuring.
“We are conducting operations to withdraw and establish diplomatic missions in line with the changing global environment and the country’s diplomatic policy,” a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman wrote earlier this month, according to a translation from Yonhap News Agency.
Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has approved withdrawals from Nepal, Spain, Angola, Uganda, and Hong Kong in recent months, causing some confusion among diplomats.
South Korean experts have claimed the shutdown is indicative of a rapidly deteriorating financial situation for their northern counterparts.
“The spiraling steps seem to indicate that it is no longer feasible for the North to maintain diplomatic missions as their efforts to obtain foreign currency have been hampered by strengthened sanctions,” South Korea’s Unification Ministry said last month, according to a translation from Yonhap.
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has approved withdrawals from Nepal, Spain, Angola, Uganda, and Hong Kong in recent months. AP
North Korea, unable to sustainably feed its own population through domestic production or standard trade, relies on contributions from allies – and sometimes enemies – to stave off starvation.
Diplomats who defected from the country claimed the North Korean embassy was largely financed by illegal activities and money-making projects.
North Korean diplomats around the world have previously caused international incidents through participation in or facilitation of counterfeiting, human trafficking, drug trafficking and more.
Suspicions speculate that North Korea’s continued closure of embassies in different countries may be linked to the ongoing financial crisis. RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY/AFP via Getty Images
At the same time as this diplomatic reshuffle, Kim Jong-Un’s regime appears to be working hard to build relations with Russia and China.
The notoriously brutal North Korea has received several diplomatic missions from both countries in recent months.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
