Swiss Foreign Minister met with North Korean Choi Sun-hee and shared impressions of visit to North Korea with South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who visited North Korea, met in Seoul on the 30th with Jeong Yeon-doo, head of the Diplomatic Strategy and Intelligence Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and shared his impressions of his visit to North Korea.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Cassis, who arrived in South Korea on this day after visiting Pyongyang, North Korea, had a dinner meeting with Director Chung and discussed bilateral relations, the Korean Peninsula, and other regional and international situations.

Director Jeong explained the government's policies and efforts to realize peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula, and said that the 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 urging the two sides to continue close communication.

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 for the office opening ceremony.

Minister Cassis posted on his social media account, X, that he met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hee that day.

He said that he and Foreign Minister Choi discussed ways to reopen the Swiss diplomatic office in a new form and normalize political relations and dialogue between the two countries.

They also announced that they exchanged opinions on a wide range of security issues in the Korean Peninsula and Eurasia region.

It is assumed that the opening of a diplomatic office in Switzerland will basically deal with bilateral relations between Switzerland and North Korea.

However, considering that Switzerland is a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC), which monitors compliance with the Korean War Armistice Agreement, and that, as a neutral country, it is an easier partner for North Korea to contact among Western countries, there are expectations that it will be in a position to play a certain role in mediating inter-Korean dialogue.

Considering that Minister Cassis said that he discussed security issues on the Korean Peninsula and Eurasia with Choi Choi, it is possible that the two sides exchanged opinions on the possibility of North Korea-US dialogue, inter-Korean relations, and positions on the war in Ukraine.