What Is Life Like For A Diplomat In North Korea?

Photo: 164 countries maintain diplomatic relations with North Korea and 25 of them have embassies in Pyongyang. (ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser)

ABC News Online: North Korea: Diplomatic life inside Pyongyang can be 'superficial, difficult, and controlled'

North Korea is the last place many would consider as an international diplomatic hub, but the world's most isolated country has a surprising number of foreign embassies.

Despite a record of human rights abuse and nuclear testing, the 'hermit-kingdom' still maintains diplomatic relations with 164 countries — 25 of them with embassies in the capital of Pyongyang, including the United Kingdom and Sweden.

John Blaxland, head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, said diplomatic work in North Korea was unlike working in any other country.

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WNU Editor: Over the years I have heard through the pipeline that besides being deployed as a diplomat in war zones, being deployed to North Korea is a place that no career diplomat wants to find themselves in. But someone has to do it.