Switzerland to reopen cooperation office in North Korea after 6 years
A delegation from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation visits a land management site in North Korea's North Hwanghae Province in this undated photo provided by the Swiss Cooperation Office in North Korea. Courtesy of NK News
Switzerland plans to reopen its international cooperation office in North Korea this year, after a six-year absence due to the pandemic.
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) confirmed to NK News on Thursday that it plans to resume operations at the Pyongyang office of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
“The FDFA is reactivating the office in 2026 by reestablishing a permanent Swiss presence,” a department spokesperson said.
The FDFA visited Pyongyang in Nov. 2024 to assess the feasibility of reactivating the Swiss cooperation office, but did not follow through on it at the time.
Switzerland does not operate a formal mission in Pyongyang and maintains diplomatic relations through its embassy in Beijing. Instead, the SDC resident office — which primarily operates under the FDFA — effectively represents Bern in North Korea.
“The Swiss Office in Pyongyang serves to facilitate bilateral dialogue between Switzerland and North Korea as well as coordinate possible Swiss humanitarian programs in North Korea,” the FDFA stated.
“Switzerland remains committed to facilitating dialogue, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula through its tradition of good offices and mediation, including its historic presence in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission,” the spokesperson added, referring to a multinational mechanism maintaining the inter-Korean armistice.
The SDC began humanitarian assistance activities in North Korea at the height of a yearslong famine in 1995, and formally established the resident office in 1997.
The office continued supporting humanitarian projects in North Korea in the following years, covering areas including food security, sustainable agriculture and reforestation, aid monitoring, and water sanitation and hygiene projects.
However, after the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 led to North Korea sealing its borders, the SDC left Pyongyang in March as part of a wider diplomatic exodus.
If the SDC resident office’s planned reopening goes ahead this year, Bern’s restoration of a permanent presence in Pyongyang could pave the way for increased humanitarian assistance and reviving an alternate diplomatic channel between North Korea and the West.
The FDFA’s statement to NK News indicates it is now set to resume operations in Pyongyang, making it one of the few Western countries that have a presence in North Korea.
North Korea’s closest allies Russia and China, as well as a handful of other longtime partners including Vietnam and Laos, maintained a steady diplomatic presence throughout the pandemic. Some other countries have returned since North Korea started easing restrictions in 2023, many of them fellow Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) members, such as India, Nigeria, Brazil, Nicaragua and Indonesia.
However, few European countries have resumed diplomatic operations in North Korea, with only the Swedish and Polish embassies currently active. The non-resident ambassadors of Switzerland and Bulgaria — both based in Beijing — also presented their credentials last year.
A German delegation visited North Korea in Feb. 2024 to inspect its embassy, which has been shut since March 2020. However, there have been no further signs of a return to North Korea, and diplomatic sources previously told NK News that Berlin remains reluctant to reopen the embassy while North Korea provides support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Read the article at NK News.