Wi Sung-lac meets Swiss foreign minister who visited North Korea; discusses Korean Peninsula situation

[Financial News] Wi Sung-lac, director of the Blue House Office of National Security, met Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on the 30th. Cassis had come to South Korea after completing a visit to North Korea. They shared the results of the visit and discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
According to the Blue House, Wi met with Minister Cassis that afternoon and heard about the consultations held in North Korea. Wi welcomed Switzerland’s continued dialogue with North Korea and its efforts to broaden communication.
The two agreed on the need to seek a diplomatic solution and continue dialogue to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. They also agreed to maintain close communication and continue consultations on issues related to the peninsula.
Earlier, Minister Cassis arrived in Pyongyang on the 29th to attend the opening ceremony of the Swiss diplomatic office there, and held talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui during his visit. Cassis said that day on X (formerly Twitter) that he and Choe had discussed reopening the Swiss diplomatic office in a new form, normalizing political relations, and ways to resume political dialogue. He added that they had exchanged views on security on the Korean Peninsula and security challenges in the broader Eurasian region.
This is the first time Switzerland has established a political diplomatic presence in Pyongyang since establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea. However, the Pyongyang office operates under the jurisdiction of the Swiss Embassy in Beijing, which continues to handle diplomatic and consular matters related to North Korea, as before.
Switzerland, which established diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1974, has operated a humanitarian cooperation office in Pyongyang since 1997 through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which is part of the foreign ministry. However, it suspended operations at the office in 2020, when COVID-19 spread, after withdrawing its local staff.

[email protected] Choi Jong-geun Reporter