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The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation building

On Oct. 1, Italy ordered the North Korean ambassador to leave the country. Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica that “the government had firmly decided to end the accreditation process” for the new North Korean ambassador.

Italy approved Mun Jong-nam’s appointment as North Korean ambassador in July, and he assumed the post at the end of August. But this action by the Italian government interrupts the accreditation process, forcing Mun to leave the country.

“We want to make Pyongyang realize that their isolation is inevitable if they don’t change tack,” Alfano said, explaining the reason for the ambassador’s banishment. But Italy is not cutting off diplomatic relations with the North, the foreign minister said, because “maintaining a channel of dialogue is always helpful.”

“North Korea has recently carried out unprecedented nuclear tests in order to improve its nuclear capabilities, and it continues to launch ballistic missiles. As the chair of the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea, Italy has called on the international community to increase pressure,” Alfano added. This step means that the position of North Korean ambassador to Italy will remain vacant for more than one year and 10 months, since Yun’s predecessor Kim Chun-guk was diagnosed with liver cancer and died in the country in Feb. 2016.

Starting with Mexico on Sept. 7, a series of countries – including Bulgaria, South Africa, Vietnam and Spain – have expelled North Korean ambassadors and other diplomats.

By Jung E-gil, senior staff writer

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