North Korea has closed its embassy in Spain following the recent shutdown of diplomatic missions in Africa.

According to a diplomatic document released by the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain on its website on Wednesday, So Yun-sok, Pyongyang’s interim acting ambassador to Spain, announced the withdrawal of the North Korean diplomatic mission last Thursday.

The diplomat added that the North’s embassy in Italy will be in charge of Spanish-related affairs after the withdrawal, but no reason was given for the closure.

North Korea established diplomatic relations with Spain in 2001 and opened an embassy in Madrid in 2013, with Kim Hyok-chol taking office as the first North Korean ambassador the following year.

In 2017, Spain designated Kim “persona non grata” and ordered him to leave Spain in protest of the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

An official from South Korea’s ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said it appears that the regime can no longer maintain its embassy in light of a throttled ability to earn foreign currency in the face of toughened global sanctions.

[Photo : YONHAP News]