SEOUL, September 7. /TASS/. The Russian embassy in North Korea has rotated its staff for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian diplomats said in a statement on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

"On September 7, for the first time since 2019, we welcomed our new colleagues at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport - 20 diplomats and technical staff who arrived at the embassy in accordance with the staff rotation," the statement said.

The Russian diplomats noted that since the pandemic began, they have been "for many months and years seeing off" their colleagues. As a result, only "two incomplete divisions" were left out of a "full-fledged battalion which has been defending the Korean segment of the homeland’s foreign policy frontline," with only 18 people working at the embassy during the past year. "It wasn’t easy but we toughed it out! A lot of work lies ahead, the country is assigning us new tasks," the embassy added.