North Korea–Seychelles relations refers to the current and historical relationship between

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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

and

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

. Neither country maintains an embassy in their respective capitals. During the 1977–2004 rule of President

France-Albert René France-Albert René (; 16 November 1934 – 27 February 2019) was a Seychellois lawyer, politician and statesman who served as the second President of Seychelles from 1977 to 2004. He also served as the country's 2nd Prime Minister from its in ...

, the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and non-aligned government of Seychelles – a small

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

island nation – maintained close relations with the Democratic Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. The country received significant North Korean developmental aid. Much of the cooperation was military. Uniformed North Korean soldiers were present in the country in 1980. Another example of military cooperation was the 1983 deployment of fifty-five North Korean instructors and interpreters to aid the military of Seychelles. During his time in power, President René visited

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

several times, meeting with Kim Il Sung. During one meeting in 1988, he expressed support for

Korean reunification Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Jo ...

, and applauded the idea of a Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo. At the end of that visit, the two countries signed a treaty of economic cooperation. In 2012 the Seychellois government – together with that of

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

– was accused of providing passports to North Koreans involved in illegal arms smuggling.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:North Korea-Seychelles relations

See also

References