Switzerland has formally reopened its diplomatic office in Pyongyang, closed since 2020, as Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis held talks in North Korea on normalizing political relations. Cassis ended a two-day visit on Friday.
No Swiss government minister had travelled to North Korea in more than two decades. Cassis, who is also Switzerland's vice-president, said on X that he discussed "regularising political relations and reestablishing a political dialogue." He met North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Jo Yong Won, a secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Korean Workers' Party.
"We also exchanged views on security on the Korean Peninsula and broader Eurasian security challenges," Cassis added on X.
The office was formally reopened on Thursday and has been operating since Oct. 19. It will have no ambassador and answers to the Swiss embassy in Beijing, which manages diplomatic and consular ties with North Korea. The office shut in March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cassis wrote that he was "pleased" to mark a "new chapter" in Switzerland's presence in Pyongyang, calling the office a "concrete step towards strengthening direct dialogue." The Swiss Foreign Ministry said the office will help strengthen direct contacts with North Korean authorities and support political dialogue.
North Korea's state news agency KCNA confirmed that Cassis arrived on Thursday but gave no details about the purpose of the trip. It was not known beforehand whether he would meet leader Kim Jong Un, and no meeting has been reported.
Bern said it intends to maintain its engagement in the region despite heightened tensions and limited international contact with North Korea. Switzerland has been one of the few Western countries to keep a dialogue going with Pyongyang.
The previous Swiss Federal Council member to go was Micheline Calmy-Rey, then the foreign minister, in 2003.
Cassis crossed into South Korea on Friday for the last leg of his regional trip. The Swiss foreign ministry said his talks in Seoul will centre on peninsula security, prospects for easing regional tensions and bilateral ties. Switzerland has been involved on the peninsula for more than 70 years, including through the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also in South Korea, visited the inter-Korean border and spoke of his country's reunification. "Let us hope that Korea, too, will one day have the chance to regain its national unity," he said.
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