2024-09-17 03:58:33
In the absence of diplomatic relations between Washington and Pyongyang, Sweden represents US interests in North Korea, but its ambassadors were forced to leave when the country closed its borders in 2020.
A Swedish diplomatic team returned to North Korea on September 13th however and “can now work to resume the normal activities of the embassy”, the embassy in Dubai said in a statement.
Washington welcomed the move, with State Department spokesman Matthew Miller calling Sweden “our security force” in North Korea (DPRK).
“We support the return of foreign diplomats to Pyongyang and hope that it will also increase communication, diplomacy and other forms of constructive engagement with the DPRK,” he told a press conference.
STRANGE BUT TRUE:
“We also hope that the DPRK will open its borders to international humanitarian workers whose relief efforts have been hampered by the DPRK’s border closures.”
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Sweden has missions in Seoul, Pyongyang and in the volatile region that separates the two states, where it served as a member of the monitoring committee that negotiated the 1953 armistice between them.
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