Organizing wedding parties, selling beef - a way for the North Korean embassy to earn money to return home

Many North Korean diplomatic missions abroad increase their income by engaging in all sorts of businesses.

The Terra Residence building, owned by the North Korean Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, is used as a venue for events such as weddings, magazine photo shoots or music video filming. Photo: New York Times.

As the United Nations tightens sanctions on Pyongyang, US President Donald Trump has issued a strong executive order aimed at isolating North Korea economically in the hope of putting enough pressure on leader Kim Jong-un to abandon his nuclear weapons program. However, Pyongyang has improvised in many ways, including turning about 40 diplomatic facilities abroad into efficient businesses, the New York Times reported.

For years, residents living around the North Korean embassy in the south of the Bulgarian capital Sofia have complained about the noise coming from inside the walled compound. Loud parties, even with fireworks, are held there several times a week in the evenings.

“It’s not that loud right now,” said Bonka Nikolova, who lives near the North Korean embassy as guests filed into the building for a wedding reception. “But if they pay for the fireworks, there will be fireworks.”

Nikolova once called the police to intervene to reduce the noise, but they could do nothing for one reason: the building enjoys legal immunity under diplomatic conventions between the Bulgarian and North Korean governments. And the building, with its large rooms covered in gilded patterns and motifs, continues to be a favorite local venue for weddings, parties and balls.

“My father-in-law was an ambassador,” says Marcus Noland, vice president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “And he once told me that many years ago, there was a rumor among diplomats in India that if you wanted beef, you could knock on the back door of the North Korean embassy in Delhi. They had a slaughterhouse in the basement.” Indians abstain from eating beef because it is a sacred animal.

North Korea’s diplomatic missions abroad are required to conduct business to generate revenue to maintain their missions and send foreign currency back home. Despite economic sanctions, North Korea’s total trade turnover last year reached $6.5 billion, with analysts estimating that the embassy’s business activities accounted for a small portion of that.

The North Korean Embassy in New Delhi, India. Photo: AFP.

In addition, Pyongyang also earns foreign currency thanks to labor export services to many countries.around the world, providing bodyguards for some national leaders, and even exporting weapons to war zones.

North Korean diplomats have been known to engage in business dealings since 1976, when Norwegian police discovered that every employee at the embassy in Oslo was involved in the import and distribution of 10,000 bottles of alcohol and 100,000 packs of cigarettes.

Currently, due to the pressure of sanctions, North Korea's diplomatic facilities maintain quiet operations. On the surface, the North Korean embassy in the suburbs of London, England, is no different from the surrounding red brick houses. Only by paying close attention can one see the sign through the iron fence indicating that this is the residence and workplace of the North Korean diplomatic delegation. According to neighbors, apart from the luxury car parked daily at the entrance, there is no sign of anyone living in this building.

"I've never seen anyone go in or out of that house. And I've been here for a year," said Ali Wiseman, a student who lives two doors down. "Once I saw three women gardening in the front yard, and they just turned away and pretended not to see me," said Wiseman's roommate, Rupert Thomson.

Kim Joo-il, a North Korean defector who has been living in London since 2007, said he often meets North Korean diplomats at flea markets on Saturdays.

“They go there to buy electronics, toys like dolls and kitchenware. Then they bring some back, clean them up and repair them and resell them. Others they send back to their home countries,” Mr Kim said through a translator at his restaurant on the outskirts of London.

Due to historical factors, North Korea's diplomatic facilities in many Eastern European countries are located on large plots of land, meaning Pyongyang can use these properties as business premises.

In Poland, more than 40 companies,including a pharmaceutical company, an advertising agency and a yacht club,registered address at the North Korean embassy in Warsaw.

The main campus of the North Korean Embassy is located in the south of the capital Sofia, Bulgaria. Photo: New York Times.

Meanwhile, in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, the North Korean embassy manages several buildings on two separate plots of land. One plot houses the diplomatic mission and its offices. Residents and tourists passing by the plot can see portraits of the North Korean leader posted on a glass information board right in front of the gate. The second plot, called Terra Residence, is just a 15-minute walk west of the first and is rented out for events.

The Terra Residence website advertises its services with photos showing the interior of the building as magnificent as the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France, with giant crystal chandeliers, gold-woven window blinds and large-scale paintings of ballet dancers.

In addition to being a venue for weddings, proms, festivals or corporate events, Terra Residence also provides a location for magazine photo shoots, music video production or advertising film production.

“I knew this building used to be an embassy but I had no idea it was North Korean property. The feeling inside is very pleasant,” said Bilyana Dimitrova, who attended a wedding held at Terra Residence last month.

Anelia Baklova, a representative of the company that leased the building to the North Korean embassy, ​​said in an email that the contract was signed before the UN sanctions went into effect. And the company has invested “a significant amount of money” in renovations and maintenance of the building, so it has not yet stopped its business activities there. But according to Ms. Baklova, after the latest sanctions, TeThe RRA has "frozen" payments to the North Korean embassy.

Some countries, such as Germany, have taken a hard line, refusing to allow North Korea to use its overseas missions for anything other than diplomacy. In May, Germany closed a hotel on the grounds of the North Korean embassy in Berlin as part of a UN resolution to punish North Korea for its nuclear tests and missile launches. Other countries, such as Poland and Bulgaria, have yet to take any concrete action.

The rental business at Terra Building tries to get along with its neighbors to make it easier for them to do business. According to people living across the street, Terra puts up notices before every fireworks event and promises that the fireworks will not take place after 10 p.m. That is enough to appease the neighbors.

AndFor local people, what worries them is not the fact that North Korea uses diplomatic facilities to earn foreign currency but the bureaucratic attitude of the local government.

"When you live in a place where even the smallest things can't be solved,"I don't care about World War III," she said.Nikolova said.

According to VNE