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Swiss minister shares Pyongyang talks with Seoul
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis briefed senior South Korean officials on Oct. 30 after completing a visit to North Korea, where he met top officials and attended the reopening of Switzerland's diplomatic office in Pyongyang.
Cassis met Wi Sung-lac, South Korea's national security adviser, who received an account of the visit and praised Switzerland's efforts to maintain and expand communication channels with North Korea. According to South Korea's presidential office, the two agreed that dialogue and diplomatic engagement remain essential to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Cassis also held a dinner meeting with Chung Yeon-doo, head of the Foreign Ministry's Office of Strategy and Intelligence. Chung outlined Seoul's efforts to promote peaceful coexistence on the peninsula and welcomed Switzerland's decision to restore its diplomatic presence in North Korea, expressing hope that it would help broaden communication with Pyongyang. Cassis agreed on the importance of regional peace and said the two countries should remain in close contact.
Diplomatic office reopens in Pyongyang
The Seoul meetings followed Cassis' Oct. 29 visit to Pyongyang, where he attended the reopening ceremony for Switzerland's diplomatic office and held separate talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Workers' Party Secretary Jo Yong Won.
In posts on X, formerly Twitter, Cassis said he and Choe discussed the new format of the diplomatic office, ways to normalize political relations and dialogue between the two countries, and broader security issues affecting the Korean Peninsula and Eurasia. Jo welcomed the reopening, Cassis said, and discussed opportunities to strengthen bilateral relations.
Switzerland's unusual diplomatic position
Switzerland established diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1974. Its foreign ministry's Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation operated a humanitarian cooperation office in Pyongyang from 1997 until staff withdrew in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The newly reopened office, which began operating Oct. 19, has a diplomatic rather than humanitarian mandate. It marks the first time since the two countries established relations that Switzerland has maintained a political diplomatic presence in Pyongyang. Switzerland's Foreign Ministry has said the office is intended to restore local communication channels and strengthen bilateral political dialogue.
Switzerland has a distinctive role on the Korean Peninsula as a neutral country and a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, which monitors compliance with the armistice that ended active fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also attended school in Switzerland.
Switzerland's Foreign Ministry has said it is prepared to play a mediating role in support of peace and stability on the peninsula, particularly as limited regional communication channels contribute to security tensions. However, analysts caution that the country is unlikely to become an immediate channel for inter-Korean or U.S.-North Korean negotiations. Cassis was the first foreign minister from a liberal democratic country to visit both Koreas since Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan made a similar trip in May.
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