North Korea has appointed new ambassadors to Vietnam and Singapore after years of delay in filling such posts led to speculation that it was closing down diplomatic missions around the world because of financial constraints.
Ri Sung Guk has been appointed North Korea’s top envoy to Vietnam, the North’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday. It is the first time Ri has been mentioned in North Korean state media.
The post had remained vacant since his predecessor, Kim Myong Gil, returned to the North in April 2019.
Amid a rift with its traditional ally Cuba, North Korea has shifted its focus towards expanding diplomatic engagement with other communist states.
In March, a senior North Korean official led a delegation to Vietnam for meetings with counterparts on strengthening relations. Separately, the delegation met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and visited Laos at that time.
North Korea also announced on Tuesday it had appointed Ri Kil Song as ambassador to Singapore. He appears to be a former vice foreign minister who handled Asian affairs until 2020.
In May last year, speculation emerged online that North Korea was shutting down diplomatic missions worldwide amid a financial crisis.
Since then, media reports have confirmed the closure of North Korean embassies and consulates in as many as a dozen locations, including countries Pyongyang views as longtime allies, such as Uganda, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
North Korea also reportedly closed its consulates in Hong Kong and Spain.
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In November, an official from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, which oversees inter-Korean relations, said tighter international sanctions on North Korea had hampered its ability to earn foreign currency, making it difficult to maintain its diplomatic missions.
“This is a glimpse of North Korea’s dire economic situation, where it is difficult to maintain even minimal diplomatic relations with traditional allies,” the official added.
Amid the speculation over its finances, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said on Nov. 3 that it was in the process of “closing and opening” diplomatic missions in other countries, and this was a normal part of the business of sovereign nations.
“We will continue to take the necessary diplomatic steps in the context of the prospective development of our external relations in line with the evolving international environment,” the spokesperson said at that time.
As of May 2023, North Korea operated a total of 53 foreign missions, according to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Edited by Mike Firn.