North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent a congratulatory message on the official birthday of the U.K.’s King Charles III.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on June 17, Kim sent a message to King Charles III on June 15. In his message, Kim stated, “I send my greetings of congratulations to you and your people on the occasion of your official birthday, the national day of your country.”
State-run media, including North Korean Workers’ Party media Rodong Sinmun and the Korean Central News Agency, did not report that Kim sent this congratulatory message.
This is unusual given the importance state-run media usually places on Kim’s activities. King Charles III, who ascended to the throne in September 2022, sent his first congratulatory message to Kim on September 9, 2023, the 75th anniversary of establishing the North Korean regime. Additionally, Rodong Sinmun even published the contents of the message.
North Korea and the U.K. have had official diplomatic relations since 2001, with embassies in both countries.
The U.K. sent an official invention to North Korea for King Charles III’s coronation last May. During Queen Elizabeth II’s lifetime, Kim and the Queen exchanged congratulatory messages on various anniversaries, maintaining a relationship. Despite the defection of Thae Yong Ho, former North Korean consul to the U.K., and international sanctions against North Korea led by the West, the relationship between the two sides continues.
The series of congratulatory diplomacy seems to be a ceremonial level of courtesy, not expressing significant closeness between the two countries but aiming only to maintain and manage a specific diplomatic relationship.
Due to the excellent weather, the British royal family celebrates the King’s official birthday in June, regardless of the King’s actual birthday. The official birthday of King Charles III is in November.