(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Ji-heon and Seol Seung-eun = Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who came to Korea on the 30th after meeting with Labor Party Secretary Cho Yong-won and Foreign Minister Choi Son-hee in North Korea, met with senior officials from the Blue House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and explained the results of his visit to North Korea.
National Security Office Director Wi Sang-rak met with Minister Cassis, who was visiting Korea, and exchanged opinions on the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Blue House announced in a press release.
The Blue House reported that Director Wi heard from Minister Cassis about the results of his recent visit to North Korea and evaluated Switzerland's efforts to maintain and expand communication channels with North Korea.
Both sides agreed on the importance of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the need for dialogue and diplomatic efforts to achieve this, and agreed to continue close communication on related issues in the future.
Separately, Minister Cassis had a dinner meeting with Jeong Yeon-doo, head of the Diplomatic Strategy and Intelligence Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and discussed regional and international situations, including bilateral relations and the Korean Peninsula.
Director Jeong explained the Korean government’s policies and efforts to realize peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula. In addition, the South Korean government is also paying attention to the trend of Switzerland reopening diplomatic offices in North Korea and hopes that this measure will contribute positively to expanding communication and engagement with North Korea.
Minister Cassis shared his impressions of his visit to North Korea, expressing sympathy with the importance of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and responding by urging the two sides to continue close communication.
Minister Cassis visited North Korea to open a Swiss diplomatic office in Pyongyang and had a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Choi. He also met with Party Secretary Cho Yong-won, who is classified as a close associate of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un, to discuss trends in North Korea and the possibility of strengthening bilateral relations.
At this meeting, it appears that the main agenda was to discuss bilateral relations between Switzerland and North Korea.
Minister Cassis also said in a post posted on his social media account, X, that he discussed with Foreign Minister Choi the reopening of diplomatic offices and normalizing political relations and dialogue between the two countries.
Although the likelihood that Switzerland will immediately become a window for dialogue between North and South Korea or North Korea is not high, some analyzes say that Switzerland's uniqueness in relations with North Korea needs to be paid attention to.
Switzerland is a neutral country and a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC), which monitors compliance with the Korean War Armistice Agreement. It is also a country where Chairman Kim studied, so there is a high possibility that North Korea will feel close to it.
Switzerland's strengths in biotechnology and agriculture are also areas in which North Korea may be interested.
Considering North Korea's diverse image of Switzerland, Switzerland can be said to be an appropriate country as the first country for North Korea to initiate contact with the liberal system, and this appears to have been the main driving force behind this visit.
Also, it is worth noting that among liberal countries, Minister Cassis is the first person to travel between North Korea and South Korea since Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in May, and in Switzerland, the Geneva Agreement between North Korea and the United States was reached during the first North Korean nuclear crisis.
Accordingly, although it is difficult to expect an immediate role as a window, government authorities are expected to closely look into the results of Minister Cassis' visit to North Korea, paying attention to Switzerland's character as a certain intermediary.
In addition, Minister Cassis revealed through the X post that he and Foreign Minister Choi exchanged opinions on a wide range of security issues in the Korean Peninsula and Eurasia region.
This raises the possibility that the two sides exchanged opinions on the situation of North Korea-North Korea relations, positions on the war in Ukraine, etc.
However, there is an observation in the diplomatic world that North Korea should not have delivered any meaningful messages regarding North Korea-US and inter-Korean relations through Switzerland.
The analysis is that North Korea will not reveal the most important part of its foreign relations through other countries.
In Switzerland, the Development Cooperation Agency (SDC) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously had an office in Pyongyang since 1997 for humanitarian projects toward North Korea, but personnel withdrew due to the coronavirus outbreak in 2020.
Switzerland reopened the office this year and announced that it would operate it as a diplomatic office, and Minister Cassis visited Pyongyang on the 29th for the office opening ceremony.
