Nigeria reopens embassy in North Korea following years of COVID-19 closure

Seoul (The Uttam Hindu): Nigeria has reopened its embassy in North Korea following years of closure over the COVID-19 pandemic, joining a group of countries resuming diplomatic activities in the North. Patrick Imodu Imologhome, Nigeria's charge d'affaires, disclosed a plan for the embassy reopening at a meeting in Pyongyang last Wednesday with Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexandr Matsegora, the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang wrote on its Facebook account last Thursday, Yonhap news agency reported.

Imologhome, who had "recently arrived" in North Korea, shared his plans to reopen the Nigerian Embassy in Pyongyang after a long suspension caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

It did not specify other details related to the embassy reopening, but the African country is presumed to have restored it to resume diplomatic activities in the North.

Russia's embassy in Pyongyang said in a Telegram message in early December that representatives from diplomatic corps from countries, including Nigeria and India, attended an event to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

North Korea and Nigeria established diplomatic ties in 1976. Reports from a UN panel of experts have shown that Pyongyang is suspected of having maintained an arms trade or business deals with Nigeria in violation of UN sanctions against North Korea.

North Korea shut down its border in early 2020 over the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing foreign diplomats or field workers at international organizations to withdraw from the isolated country. In August 2023, the North began reopening its border.

Of African countries, only Nigeria and Egypt have diplomatic presences in North Korea.

Eight countries -- China, Laos, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cuba, Russia, Syria and Egypt -- had been running their diplomatic missions in Pyongyang in a limited manner even in the midst of the pandemic by leaving some embassy staff behind, according to South Korea's unification ministry.

Nicaragua, known for its hard-line stance against the US, newly opened an embassy in Pyongyang earlier this year.

Sweden, Poland, Brazil and Iran have reopened their embassies in the North after pulling out embassy employees during the pandemic, according to the ministry.

In September, Sweden became the first Western country to restore its embassy in Pyongyang. In November, Poland said its diplomats were visiting Pyongyang to seek to restore its diplomatic presence in the North.