Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday for talks with North Korean officials and the formal reopening of Switzerland’s diplomatic office there.
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency confirmed Cassis’ arrival Friday, saying he and his delegation were greeted at Pyongyang International Airport by Foreign Ministry officials, North Korea’s ambassador to Switzerland and the head of Switzerland’s diplomatic office in the North.
KCNA did not elaborate on the purpose or schedule of the visit.
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said Cassis would attend the office’s official reopening and hold political talks during his Oct. 29-30 stay. The office, which resumed operations on Oct. 19, is Switzerland’s first political and diplomatic presence in Pyongyang since the two countries established relations in 1974.
Switzerland’s Foreign Ministry has said the office is intended to strengthen direct contact with North Korean authorities and support political dialogue, amid heightened regional security tensions and a shortage of communication channels.
The office is administered under the Swiss Embassy in Beijing, which retains responsibility for diplomatic and consular relations with North Korea. It replaces a humanitarian cooperation office that Switzerland operated in Pyongyang from 1997 until its closure in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cassis is expected to discuss the resumption of consultations between the two countries’ foreign ministries, developments on the Korean Peninsula and broader geopolitical issues with North Korean authorities, observers say.
He is to travel to Seoul after concluding his Pyongyang schedule for meetings with South Korean officials. The Swiss government described the three-day trip, which runs through Saturday, as part of its long-standing commitment to peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Switzerland has maintained regular political dialogue with North Korea since 2003. Kim Jong-un also spent part of his youth in Switzerland, attending school in the Bern area in the 1990s.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
