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Britain, Germany, Sweden considering opening embassies in North Korea — report

According to report, representatives of the German Foreign Ministry are currently in Pyongyang

LONDON, February 28. /TASS/. The diplomatic missions of Great Britain, Germany and Sweden are considering the possibility of opening embassies in North Korea, Reuters reports with reference to diplomats of these countries.

According to report, representatives of the German Foreign Ministry are currently in Pyongyang. They have been "inspecting the territory of the German embassy for two days now," a representative of the German Foreign Ministry told the agency, noting that the decision to resume the work of the diplomatic mission has not yet been made. According to a representative of the British Foreign Ministry, the United Kingdom, which closed the embassy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in May 2020, is also trying to send a group of diplomats to Pyongyang. "We are negotiating with the DPRK government through the embassy in London in order to prepare for the visit of the technical and diplomatic group in the near future," he said.

Sweden's Special Envoy for Korean Peninsula Affairs, Peter Semneby, told Reuters that some progress had been made towards the possible return of Swedish diplomats to Pyongyang, but declined to provide details, citing the sensitivity of the issue. "There is some movement, and we hope that we will be able to reopen our embassy relatively soon," he added.

As previously reported by the Yonhap news agency, the head of the German Foreign Ministry's department for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Martin Tummel, the first high-ranking Western diplomat to visit the country in four years, arrived in the DPRK. According to the agency, visits of this level have not been reported since January 2020, when the borders of the DPRK were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In July 2023, a Russian delegation headed by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu visited the DPRK. The Chinese delegation, led by Li Hongzhong, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, also took part in the celebration of the anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

In the second half of 2023, bilateral exchanges between Russia and the DPRK intensified. In October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited the DPRK. On November 15, the tenth meeting of the intergovernmental commission of the DPRK and Russia on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation was held in Pyongyang.

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