New Delhi: India has shut down its embassy in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, joining other foreign embassies which had to also close their missions in the aftermath of restrictions put in place due to COVID-19.
Sources confirmed to The Wire that the small embassy office that India has in Pyongyang is now “temporarily closed” due to the COVID-19 situation.
India’s ambassador to North Korea, Atul Gotsurve, left the hermit country about two weeks ago through the Russian border via a special train arranged by Russians to evacuate their diplomatic personnel.
The departure of the Indian envoy was first reported by the digital news platform, NK News, which focuses its coverage on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It had also reported that the Indian embassy remained open, but sources here stated that the mission has, in fact, been closed down due to the current circumstances.
This is the first country in which India has had to drastically curtail its diplomatic presence since COVID-19 spread across the world in early 2020.
Gotsurve’s replacement had already been announced by Ministry of External Affairs in December 2020. But, the situation inside North Korea with its complete isolation due to COVID-19 rules meant that no diplomatic mission have been able to rotate their staff in the last one and half years.
Since the start of the pandemic, North Korea has officially claimed to have had no coronavirus infections. It had however put in severe restrictions, including banning tourists, all ground and air travel inside the country, at the start of the pandemic in January 2020.
A month later, North Korea put in restrictions which particularly targeted foreign missions, as they were just limited to specific areas in Pyongyang.
The country which already had a relatively small number of resident missions, started to witness an exodus of foreign diplomats from March last year.
From sending home families and non-essential officials, the embassies started to close down one by one and humanitarian agencies pulled out their foreign staff.
The UK embassy website states that the mission is “currently closed due to entry and exit restrictions put in place by the North Korean government in response to coronavirus (COVID-19)”.
In February, Russia said that eight of its personnel returned home after a 36-hour journey by train, bus and finally, on foot, pushing belongings on a rail cart, to the border post.
Russian personnel hike down a rail line in a photo shared by the Russian Embassy in North Korea. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry – МИД России/Facebook
The Russian embassy in North Korea has been documenting the travails of its diplomatic staff on its Facebook page.
In a Facebook post in April, it said that the bulk of the diplomatic community in North Korea had left. Around 38 foreign nationals left through the Chinese border.
“We wish our colleagues in the Pyongyang diplomatic corps, with whom we have become especially close during the harsh months of coronavirus confinement, a happy return home,” the embassy posted.
It stated that missions of Britain, Venezuela, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland and France had also locked up their offices over the last one year.
According to the post, there were only 290 foreign nationals left, including nine ambassadors and four chargé d’affaires.
“Leaving the Korean capital can be understood – not everyone can withstand total restrictions unprecedented in their strictness, the extreme shortage of necessary goods, including drugs, the lack of ability to solve health problems,” wrote the Russian embassy.
In early July, the embassy posted photos of another evacuation of a large group of diplomatic personnel who left by a special train. It is understood that they Indian ambassador left on this train.
In normal circumstances, the Indian embassy has around four or five officials. It is not yet clear if all of them have left North Korea. However, the embassy has certainly been locked up, for now.
According to Stimson’s DPRK focused publication, 38 North, India had been North Korea’s second largest trading partner for several years, until recently. In 2016, India’s trade with North Korea stood at $120 million, which fell to $35 million in 2018.
NK News stated that Pyongyang was unlikely to relax its strict border lockdown until 2022, which would dictate when India will be able to send diplomats to open up the embassy again.