Friday, April 2, 2021

Dire situation in North Korea drives 'collective exit' of diplomats

A worker in protective gear carries a disinfectant spray can through a nearly deserted terminal at Pyongyang airport. Photograph: Jon Chol Jin/AP

 Russian diplomats fleeing North Korea have described acute shortages of medicines and other basic goods in the country, indicating a crisis fuelled by one of the world’s strictest quarantine regimes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter posted online on Thursday, employees of the Russian embassy in Pyongyang described a “collective exit” of foreign diplomatic staff that they predicted would “unfortunately not be the last” due to unbearable conditions in the North Korean capital.

“It is possible to understand those leaving the [North] Korean capital. Hardly everyone can stand the unprecedented total restrictions [on individuals], the sharp deficit of essential goods, including medicines, the lack of any possibility to resolve health problems,” members of staff at the Russian embassy wrote.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/01/foreign-diplomat-collective-exit-from-north-korea-russian-embassy-staff-strict-covid-restrictions

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