North Korea closes down embassy in Uzbekistan

North Korea has closed down its embassy in Uzbekistan as part of a restructuring of its missions in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a diplomatic source in Uzbekistan said on August 20, Trend News reports.

The source said that the North Korean embassy informed foreign embassies in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, earlier this month of its decision to shut down.

North Korea is facing isolation and international sanctions following its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in January.

Currently, Russia is the only country among the CIS countries where North Korea keeps an embassy.

In 1998, North Korea closed its embassy in Kazakhstan.