By North Korea’s global diplomatic presence has shrunk even further:
North Korea can’t afford the bills anymore, so it will close its embassy here, Australia’s foreign ministry said yesterday. North Korean diplomats informed Australian officials in November that the four-person embassy, located in a diplomatic quarter of Australia’s capital Canberra, would shut in February.
“The embassy advised that they plan to continue with non-resident diplomatic accreditations from Jakarta,†a foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters. The mission said in a letter it was closing due to “financial reasons.â€
“The DPRK said it would consider reopening if its financial situation improves,†the spokesman said, referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. [JoongAng Ilbo]
I guess they couldn’t sell enough drugs any more to keep the embassy funded much longer.Â
9:56 am on January 23rd, 2008 1
The Stars and Stripes article mentioned that some diplomatic circles were interpreting this embassy closure as nK's way of snubbing the new Australian government.
That I do not understand … why would nK want to snub former PM Howard's leftist political rivals ???
Maybe it is just about not being able to pay the bills.
4:18 am on January 24th, 2008 2
[...] MAYBE THEY CAN TAKE UP A COLLECTION at the six-party talks, suggests a reader on hearing that North Korea will close its embassy in Australia for financial reasons. (Shh. You’ll give them ideas.) More at GI Korea’s blog. [...]
2:13 pm on January 23rd, 2008 3
I seriously doubt this will cause a drop in the number of Korean newspaper ads.