N Korea-Swiss FM

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met one-on-one with her Swiss counterpart visiting Pyongyang earlier this week and discussed promoting dialogue and cooperation, the North's state media reported Saturday.

Choe held the talks with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who was on a two-day trip since Friday following Switzerland's recent opening of its first diplomatic office in Pyongyang.

The two sides discussed "the issue of promoting dialogue and cooperation between the diplomatic fields of the two countries and exchanged the appraisal and views of the international situation of common concern," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

"The talks proceeded in a friendly atmosphere," the news outlet said, without elaborating.

Also attending the talks from the North's side were Jong Tong-hak, the North's vice foreign minister, and Jo Chol-su, North Korea's top envoy to Switzerland, among other officials.

In a separate dispatch, the KCNA reported that Cassis paid a courtesy call on Jo Yong-won, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, on the same day. Jo is considered a close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Cassis's trip to Pyongyang was followed by his visit to Seoul on Friday.

Seoul's foreign ministry said Cassis met with National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac and separately with Jeong Yeon-doo, vice foreign minister responsible for North Korea affairs, to share details of his discussions in North Korea.

Switzerland is a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, an independent body established to oversee the enforcement of the Armistice Agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

Switzerland established diplomatic ties with North Korea in 1974, but rather than a formal mission, it operated a humanitarian cooperation office in Pyongyang from 1997 until shutting it down in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The opening of the diplomatic office in Pyongyang marks Switzerland's first political and diplomatic presence in North Korea.

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