Diplomatic Exodus From North Korea

There’s an exodus of foreign diplomats from North Korea, driven by border closure because of the pandemic and a crippling shortage of everything from food to medicines. There are also serious doubts about the capacity of the North Korean healthcare system to care for Corona-infected patients.

Reports say there are less than 300 foreign nationals still resident in Pyongyang, among them nine ambassadors and four charges d’ affaires. Staff of international aid organisations have also left. The latest to leave were Russian diplomats in February, who went by train from Pyongyang to the border with Russia from where they took a rail trolley.