Swiss foreign minister visits South Korea after meeting North Korea’s Choe Son-hui, briefs government on Pyongyang trip

[Financial News] Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who visited Pyongyang and met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, came straight to South Korea and briefed senior officials at the Blue House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the results of his visit to North Korea. Attention is focused on how Switzerland’s reopening of its Pyongyang office as a formal diplomatic office, after withdrawing its staff following the COVID-19 outbreak, could affect the international community’s future engagement with North Korea.
According to the Blue House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 30th, Wi Sung-lac, chief of the Office of National Security, and Jeong Yeon-doo, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Bureau of Diplomatic Strategy and Intelligence, met in succession with Minister Cassis, who was visiting South Korea, that day to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula. No ministerial-level talks were held because Foreign Minister Cho Hyun was in the United States to attend a G20 meeting, but reports said that North Korea’s recent moves and intentions were shared through the high-level consultations.
Chief Wi and Director Jeong explained to Minister Cassis the South Korean government’s efforts to realize peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula. In particular, government officials highlighted Switzerland’s opening of a diplomatic office in North Korea, saying, “We hope this step will make a positive contribution to expanding communication and engagement with North Korea.” Cassis shared his impressions of the visit and responded, “We recognize the importance of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and let’s continue close communication between the two sides.”

Earlier that day, Cassis disclosed on X (formerly Twitter) that he had met with Foreign Minister Choe in Pyongyang for bilateral talks. Cassis said, “We discussed reopening the Swiss diplomatic office in a new form, normalizing political relations and resuming political dialogue. We also exchanged views extensively on security issues on the Korean Peninsula and in the Eurasian region.” North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun also gave prominent coverage to Cassis’s visit that day.
Switzerland had operated a cooperation office for humanitarian purposes in Pyongyang since 1997, but withdrew its staff in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With this visit, it upgraded the basic cooperation office to a functioning diplomatic mission and reopened it, 52 years after the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Diplomatic observers are watching Switzerland’s distinctive role as an “intermediary,” even if it may be difficult for the country to serve immediately as an official channel for dialogue between the two Koreas or between North Korea and the United States. Switzerland is a permanently neutral country and a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC), which monitors compliance with the armistice agreement; it was also the venue for the Geneva Agreed Framework during the first North Korean nuclear crisis. Analysts say that, particularly because it is the country where Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jung-eun studied, Switzerland may be able to maintain a relatively smooth channel of communication with North Korea.


[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter