NK summons its ambassador to Egypt back to Pyongyang

It has been reported Tuesday that North Korean ambassador to Egypt Pak Chun Il and his family returned to Pyongyang in mid-November, few days before the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2321, which put the ambassador on a blacklist. In the meantime, the North Korean government appointed Pak’s successor and has been awaiting an approval from the Egyptian government.

Analysts say that North Korea called Pak back to Pyongyang before the UNSC Resolution was finally passed on November 30 in order to avoid the UNSC putting a current ambassador on the blacklist. According to reports, Pak returned to North Korea without being noticed about his next destination as an ambassador. New North Korean ambassador to Egypt is expected to arrive in Cairo within this year. Simply put, the UNSC included Pak on its blacklist as a current North Korean ambassador to Egypt, without knowing that he had left Egypt.

Pak was accused of supporting the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, which has been identified as North Korea’s illegal arms dealer channel in Egypt. On this account, Pak has been among the names of individuals that the U.S put on its watchlist announced in March. In addition, rumors circulated if the Egyptian government would allow deportation of Pak together with two KOMID agents who were deported in March for disguising them as North Korean diplomats and trading weapons illegally.

On the contrary, under another scenario, the Egyptian government might have requested North Korea to replace Pak, who became a burden to Egypt against the backdrop of Egypt’s efforts to build close ties with the U.S., especially after Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was the first world leader who called to congratulate Donald Trump on his election victory. Egypt, a member of the UNSC, also voted aye on a resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea. “Pak was not officially deported from Egypt, but the Egyptian government might have requested the North to replace the ambassador,” a South Korean government official said.

Dong-Joo Cho djc@donga.com