Diplomatic representatives and embassy staff from Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria, along with ethnic Koreans from China, observe voting at polling stations across Pyongyang during Supreme People’s Assembly elections on March 15, North Korea’s state media reported on March 16. (Yonhap)
Diplomatic representatives and embassy staff from Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria, along with ethnic Koreans from China, observe voting at polling stations across Pyongyang during Supreme People’s Assembly elections on March 15, North Korea’s state media reported on March 16. (Yonhap)

North Korea has named a new ambassador to Sweden, the North's foreign ministry said Saturday, in the latest appointment of envoys overseas.

Kim Chol-hae has been appointed as Pyongyang's new top envoy to Sweden, the ministry said on its website, after naming its new ambassadors to Britain and Indonesia earlier this week.

Sweden has traditionally served as an intermediary for talks between the United States and North Korea, and was the first Western country to establish diplomatic ties with Pyongyang in 1973.

Sweden also was the first Western country to resume diplomatic operations in Pyongyang following the COVID-19 pandemic when the North closed its borders. (Yonhap)