A part of the diplomatic corps stationed in North Korea should leave Pyongyang in the coming days by a special flight of the national company Air Koryo bound for Vladivostok. The date has yet to be confirmed due to lack of final approval from the Russian authorities.
The departure of sixty diplomats and members of international organizations resident in the North Korean capital and their families was decided for two converging reasons. First, the fear that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will experience an epidemic of coronavirus (so far no case has been officially announced) which, given the obsolescence of the hospital system, the insufficiency of drugs and undernourishment of the majority of the population, could result in a health crisis leading to difficulties in evacuating foreign residents. Then, quarantined for more than a month, they find it increasingly difficult to fulfill their mission.
Confined since January 31 in the diplomatic district, the 400 or so diplomats and members of international organizations are only beginning to be allowed to go to town. But they cannot come and go abroad: the DPRK was the first country to shut down as soon as the virus appeared in Wuhan, cutting off land and air links with China and then Russia. Confinement which has led several countries to ask the North Korean authorities to allow the evacuation of their nationals.
The German ambassador is among the diplomats who are expected to leave the DPRK, as well as the director of the French cooperation office. France, the only European country with Lithuania not to have a diplomatic relationship with the DPRK, has an agent, career diplomat, in Pyongyang, whose offices are located in the German embassy. As it closes, the French office must do the same, in solidarity with its host.
Other foreign residents do not wish to leave: this is the case of the British ambassador and representatives of the two French NGOs present in the DPRK for many years, Triangle and Première Urgence, who believe that it is precisely in health crisis situations it is important to be present.
The closure of diplomatic representations in Pyongyang is not a political decision on the part of foreign countries or local authorities. It is a temporary measure which does not in any way mean a break in ties with the DPRK. The fact remains that these departures are felt by the North Koreans as an additional sign of their isolation, at a difficult time.
