The Embassy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Lima was the official

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

to the

Republic of Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. It is located in

San Isidro District, Lima San Isidro is an upscale Districts of Peru, district of the Lima Province in Peru. It is located in the west center of the city, it has a few meters of coastline. Officially created on April 24, 1931, San Isidro, along with Orrantia and Country ...

, Peru. Diplomatic relations between Peru and North Korea are frozen since 2017, when Peru declared the Korean ambassador as a ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...

'' and gave him 5 days to leave the country in response to the country's missile launches earlier that month. This was followed by the expulsion of two more diplomats on December of the same year after reportedly conspiring to attack the families of the diplomatic staff of the U.S. Embassy in Lima.

History

North Korea opened a

trade office A trade office, sometimes known as a trade representation, commercial office, or trade mission, is an official establishment that promotes the commercial interests of a government (such as a city, state, or country) in a foreign capital. The hea ...

in Peru in January 1975, under the left-wing government of

Juan Velasco Alvarado Juan Francisco Velasco Alvarado (June 16, 1910 – December 24, 1977) was a Peruvian Army general, general who served as the President of Peru after a successful 1968 Peruvian coup d'état, coup d'état against Fernando Belaúnde's presidency ...

. Relations were officially established at an embassy level on December 15, 1988. On December 29, 1977, a member of the commercial delegation was expelled from Peru after being involved in contraband activities. This followed a similar situation developing in October of the same year, when North Korean diplomatic staff were expelled from a number of Scandinavian embassies. In 1987, the then trade office was bombed by terror group

Shining Path The Shining Path (, SL), self-named the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a far-left political party and guerrilla group in Peru, following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the group as the ...

. The attack was in response of the North Korean government's support of the

Peruvian government The Republic of Peru is a unitary state with a multi-party semi-presidential system. The current government was established by the 1993 Constitution of Peru. The government is composed of three branches, being executive, judicial, and legisla ...

against guerrillas during the country's

internal conflict In narrative, an internal conflict is the struggle occurring within a character's mind. Things such as what the character yearns for, but can't quite reach. As opposed to external conflict, in which a character is grappling some force outside of ...

, which included the sale of 10,000

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

s to be used by the

Peruvian National Police The National Police of Peru (, PNP) is the national police force of Peru. Its jurisdiction covers the nation's land, sea, and air territories. Formed from the merger of the Investigative Police, the Civil Guard, and the Republican Guard in 1988 ...

. Another attack was attempted in 1989, but the bomb did not detonate as it was defused by the Peruvian Police. Under

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard (; born 3 October 1938), also known simply as PPK (), is a Peruvian economist, public administrator, and former politician who served as the 59th President of Peru from 2016 to 2018. He served as Prime Minister of ...

, the embassy was ordered to decrease its diplomatic staff from six to three people. After the North Korean government conducted

nuclear tests Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of Nuclear explosion, their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to si ...

in September 2017, the Peruvian government responded by declaring the Korean ambassador as a ''

'' on September 11 and gave him five days to leave the country. The Korean ambassador protested the measure before leaving the embassy. Subsequently, the first and third secretaries of the embassy—Pak Myong Chol and Ji Hyok, respectively—were also given the same treatment on December 22. Nevertheless, the embassy continued to function after the incidents. After the diplomats' expulsion, Argentine newspaper ''

Infobae Infobae is an international Argentine online newspaper. It was launched in 2002 by businessman Daniel Hadad, with the original headquarters in Buenos Aires. The company expanded globally with local editions in New York City, Mexico City, Miami ...

'' revealed the reason behind Kuczynski's ultimatum was that both secretaries kept in touch with leaders of the Red Fatherland Party and had reportedly been planning to attack the families of the diplomatic staff of the U.S. Embassy in Lima, even suggesting their

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

. The information had been discovered by

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

as part of an investigation against Pak Myong Hol as part of a

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

complaint filed against him on behalf of a boy under 15 years old. The Red Fatherland Party confirmed that they kept in touch with the diplomatic staff, but denied the allegations made against them. Regardless, two days prior to the expulsion of the two diplomats, the U.S. Embassy had issued a security alert to its staff, seemingly connected to the scandal.

Ambassadors

References

{{Ambassadors to Peru Korea, North

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Defunct diplomatic missions North Korea–Peru relations San Isidro District, Lima

History

Ambassadors

See also

References