India: Embassy in North to stay
New Delhi: India has slashed trade with North Korea in line with UN sanctions over the North’s nuclear tests but will not close its Pyongyang embassy, Sushma Swaraj said.
India on Wednesday made it clear it will not shut its embassy in North Korea, telling the United States that it (the US) must have some friendly countries that have embassies in Pyongyang so that “communication channels are open”.
Ms Swaraj said India’s trade with North Korea is in any case “minimal” and that it has a “small’ embassy in Pyongyang. In another major move, the US indicated it had no objection to India and Afghanistan’s efforts to develop the Chabahar port in Iran, adding that it was not against “legitimate business activities” of European countries or India with Iran.
Visiting US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said the US was not against the Iranian people and wanted sanctions to punish the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its “oppressive revolutionary” regime. “It will not be incorrect to say that our trade is minimal with North Korea. We have a small embassy there,” Ms. Swaraj said, in response to a question from the American media. Referring to the US, she said, “Some of your friends’ embassies should be there (in Pyongyang). Channels of communication should be there,” adding that Mr Tillerson had “appreciated” India’s stand.
The US has been involved in a war of words with the North Korean regime amid fears of a nuclear conflict due to the nuclear capabilities of both countries.