All Remaining UN Staff Withdrawn from North Korea Due to COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] It has been confirmed that all UN-affiliated staff stationed in North Korea have withdrawn due to the COVID-19 situation.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a regular briefing on the 19th (local time) in response to a question about whether the last two World Food Programme (WFP) staff had left North Korea, "UN international staff returned to their home countries to meet their families," adding, "They had been in North Korea for quite a long time and needed to return home."

He continued, "Due to the border closure, they cannot immediately return to North Korea," and explained, "They will return to Pyongyang as soon as the COVID-19 related restrictions on UN staff are lifted."

North Korea has closed its borders and severely restricted domestic movement since early last year, citing COVID-19 prevention measures. As a result, diplomats and international organization staff have departed.

Spokesperson Dujarric stated, "Our office in North Korea is still operational, and we are working remotely with local UN staff for the benefit of the North Korean people."

He also added, "The UN is working to support the COVAX vaccine campaign, hoping that through this, staff will have the opportunity to return and that the scale of operations can be expanded."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.