A North Korean flag flies over the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this March 20, 2021 file photo. EPA-Yonhap

North Korea's recent move to close its diplomatic missions in Angola and Uganda is an apparent sign of its faltering economy worsened by global sanctions, the unification ministry said Tuesday.

The assessment followed reports by Pyongyang's state media and African media outlets that North Korea's ambassadors to Angola and Uganda respectively paid "farewell" courtesy calls to the leaders of the African countries, announcing the shutdown of the diplomatic missions.

Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported last week that the reclusive regime also plans to shut down its consulate in Hong Kong due largely to economic difficulties.

"The flurry of measures appear to show that it is no longer feasible for the North to maintain diplomatic missions as their efforts to obtain foreign currency have stumbled due to strengthened sanctions," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Rather than receiving funds from Pyongyang, the North's diplomatic missions are known to secure funds for operations through illicit trade and commercial activities and send remittances to their home country, according to former North Korean diplomats who have defected to South Korea.

"They show how the North struggles to sustain the minimum diplomatic relationship with its traditional allies due to its difficult economic situation," the official said.

North Korea established diplomatic ties with Angola in 1975, and re-opened its embassy in 2013 after withdrawing it in 1998 for an unknown reason. The two nations have maintained close ties, with Angola's former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos visiting Pyongyang three times.

Angola is known as one of the African countries that the North had dispatched its workers to for dollar earnings. The North is also known to have exported giant socialist-style statues to some African countries, including Senegal and Angola, in the past to win hard currency.

Angola terminated all of its contracts with Mansudae Angola, a North Korean construction firm, in November 2017 and asked its workers to leave the country in line with U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, according to an implementation report submitted to the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee.

At a session of the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly held Friday, Uganda and Angola voted for a resolution condemning North Korea carrying out six nuclear tests.

As of October, North Korea operates 53 diplomatic missions — including 47 embassies, three consulates and three representative offices among the 159 countries it has established diplomatic ties with, according to the ministry. The number is expected to fall to 50 should its shutdown of missions in Angola, Uganda and Hong Kong be finalized. (Yonhap)