N. Korea closes its embassy in Angola after its diplomatic mission shutdown in Uganda

Choe Ryong-hae, fourth from right, talks with representatives of People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola in North Korea, Sept. 24, 2019, in this photo provided by North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Yonhap

North Korea's ambassador to Angola has paid a "farewell" courtesy call to the leader of the African country, Pyongyang's state media reported Monday, in the latest in the North's move to close a number of its diplomatic missions in Africa.

North Korea's top envoy to Luanda, Jo Pyong-chol, made a farewell visit to Angolan President Joao Lourenco on Friday and politely delivered leader Kim Jong-un's message, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The move came just days after North Korea's Ambassador to Uganda, Jong Tong-hak, announced during his courtesy call to Uganda's President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni that North Korea will close its embassy in Uganda.

The shutdowns of North Korean embassies in Angola and Uganda come as the secretive regime has faced growing difficulty in securing foreign currency amid protracted economic challenges caused by U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

Angolan newspaper Jornal de Angola reported Wednesday that North Korea announced the "unilateral" closure of its diplomatic mission in Luanda.

North Korea established diplomatic ties with Angola in 1975, and re-opened its embassy in 2013 after withdrawing it in 1998 for an unknown reason. The two nations have maintained close ties, with Angola's former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos visiting Pyongyang three times.

Angola is known as one of the African countries that the North had dispatched its workers to for dollar earnings. The North is also known to have exported giant socialist-style statues to some African countries, including Senegal and Angola, in the past to win hard currency.

Angola terminated all of its contracts with Mansudae Angola, a North Korean construction firm, in November 2017 and asked its workers to leave the country in line with U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, according to an implementation report submitted to the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee.

At a session of the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly held Friday (local time), Uganda and Angola voted for a resolution condemning North Korea carrying out six nuclear tests.

Meanwhile, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported last week that North Korea plans to shut down its consulate in Hong Kong due largely to economic difficulties. (Yonhap)