North Korea Appoints New Ambassador to Austria
North Korea has reportedly named veteran diplomat Kyong Hak Min as its new ambassador to Austria, a move that could see him also represent Pyongyang at international organizations in Vienna.
Austria has long been a significant and comparatively neutral diplomatic outpost for North Korea since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1974, especially due to the United Nations Offices in Vienna. / Picture: © IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
The appointment appears to have been made quietly, as neither North Korea nor Austria has officially announced it, but NK News, which describes itself as a specialist information source focusing on North Korea, has reported on the development. Kyong Hak Min is expected to arrive in Austria shortly to take up his new position. He succeeds the current ambassador, Choe Kang Il. Diplomatic records indicate that a diplomat with the same name already served as embassy counselor at the North Korean embassy in Germany from 2009 to the early 2010s.
Austria has traditionally been an important and relatively neutral diplomatic outpost for North Korea. Previous ambassadors to Vienna have been high-ranking figures, underscoring the importance Pyongyang attaches to this relationship.
However, this historical connection has also been exploited to misuse Vienna as a hub for illegal activities, including arms smuggling and espionage operations. In particular, the now-closed Golden Star Bank, which was owned by the sanctioned Taesong Bank and was shut down in 2004 on suspicion of money laundering and financing North Korean weapons, was at the center of these activities. In addition, the Vienna-based International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), an organization founded by South Korean General Choi Hong-Hi, who later defected to North Korea, has been scrutinized by Austrian authorities for alleged links to North Korean financial activities. However, the ITF denies any wrongdoing.
Relations between North Korea and Austria have been complex and at times ambivalent since they were established in 1974. While Vienna has long been an important diplomatic base for Pyongyang in Europe, especially during the Cold War, the relationship has also been marred by controversies surrounding North Korea's illegal activities. The appointment of a new ambassador signals North Korea's continued interest in maintaining a presence in Central Europe, even though the future of bilateral relations remains uncertain amid global developments and North Korea's controversial nuclear policy.