Swiss foreign minister Cassis to visit North Korea to reopen Switzerland's office in Pyongyang

As of 9:25 a.m. ET, Oct. 27, 2026

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis will visit North Korea this week for political talks and the official reopening of Switzerland's diplomatic office in Pyongyang, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

Cassis will be in North Korea on Oct. 29 and 30, and the office will formally open on Oct. 30, the department said. He will then travel to Seoul for meetings with South Korean officials on Oct. 30 and 31.

Switzerland's Tages-Anzeiger described it as the first Swiss visit in more than 20 years. The department said the office re-establishes a permanent Swiss diplomatic presence in North Korea.

The Pyongyang office

The office has been operating since Oct. 19, according to the department. It reports to the Swiss Embassy in Beijing, which remains responsible for diplomatic and consular relations with North Korea.

The department said the office "will help to strengthen direct contacts with the authorities of the DPRK and support political dialogue with them." Through its presence in Pyongyang, Switzerland "aims to maintain direct dialogue, including on matters of disagreement," it said.

Switzerland previously ran a humanitarian cooperation office in Pyongyang through its development agency starting in 1997, but that office was not a diplomatic mission and suspended operations in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea's SBS reported.

What is on the agenda

In Pyongyang, talks will focus on resuming bilateral consultations between the Swiss foreign ministry and North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, security on the Korean Peninsula and global geopolitics, the department said.

In Seoul, Cassis will discuss security on the peninsula, prospects for easing regional tensions and relations between Switzerland and South Korea, according to the department.

Switzerland has been involved on the peninsula since 1953 as a member of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission on the military demarcation line between the two Koreas, and says it is one of the few Western countries to have kept a political dialogue with North Korea since 2003.

Reuters noted that while Switzerland has re-engaged with Pyongyang in recent years, the European Union has essentially frozen direct dialogue with North Korea.

What is not known

The Swiss government has not said which North Korean officials Cassis will meet. No meeting with leader Kim Jong Un has been announced, Switzerland's Tages-Anzeiger reported. North Korea's state media has not been seen commenting on the visit.