Mongolia’s new ambassador to North Korea has reportedly begun his duties after presenting his credentials to the vice chairman of the state affairs commission, Choe Ryong-hae.

According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) on Tuesday, Choe accepted the credentials from the new ambassador on behalf of leader Kim Jong-un at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang the previous day.

The KCNA said the two sides had a conversation in a friendly atmosphere.

NK News, a U.S. media that monitors the North, said that the ambassador, Luvsantseren Erdeneddavaa, was appointed to the post in October in 2021, but was unable to enter the country until last December due to the regime’s strict COVID-19 border policies.

Most of the diplomatic missions in North Korea were closed during the pandemic, until China’s new ambassador Wang Yajun took up the post in March of last year to become the first foreign diplomat allowed into the country since January 2020.

Diplomats from Western countries such as Britain, Sweden and Switzerland have yet to enter the North.