MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2023) North Korea is preparing to resume diplomatic activities after three years of self-isolation in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The nation will rotate its foreign envoys in the coming months as leader Kim Jong Un gradually reopens his country after suspending almost all diplomatic travel in 2020, the sources said.
The renewed presence of North Korean officials abroad would increase engagement with the country and reportedly allow greater insight into its internal affairs, according to diplomats and analysts.
North Korea introduced COVID-19 measures in January 2020, greatly increasing security measures inside the country and along its borders. Human Rights Watch reported last November that improved border security has almost completely halted unauthorized cross-border economic activity, resulting in acute shortages of food, medicine, and other essentials in the country. North Koreans also lost the opportunity to leave the country and seek asylum abroad. North Korea announced the victory over the coronavirus outbreak in the country last August.
