Dealing With the Devil: Switzerland and North Korea

It is no secret that China has acted as North Korea’s primary lifeline, however other nations have played a role, either directly or indirectly, in keeping Kim Jong-Un and Korean Workers’ Party afloat. There is one nation, in particular, that has become a de facto “enabler” to Kim dynasty whose name may come as a shock to many – Switzerland.

With tensions rising between the United States and the rogue regime of North Korea, there are many questions that need to be addressed and not the least of which is what nations have been acting as “enablers” to one of the last remaining Stalinist dictatorships on the planet. It is no secret that China has acted as North Korea’s primary lifeline, however other nations have played a role, either directly or indirectly, in keeping Kim Jong-Un and Korean Workers’ Party afloat. There is one nation, in particular, that has become an indirect “enabler” to Kim dynasty whose name may come as a shock to many – Switzerland.

Switzerland is a member of the Neutral Nations’ Supervisory Commission, and since the end of the Korean conflict has maintained a close and at times, a somewhat dubious relationship with “Hermit Kingdom.” For decades since the Korean War, Switzerland has engaged in humanitarian aid missions and organized meetings between North Korean party members, including members of the Kim family, and other heads of state. It is also well known that selected Korean Workers’ Party members, including Kim Jong-Un himself, study abroad in Switzerland. Kim Jong-Un, in what is believed to be at least several years, attended Schule Liebefeld Steinholtz, a German language state school located in Bern, Switzerland.

While these efforts may seem on the surface to be benign, or even as proactive attempts to open North Korea up to the rest of the world, some very curious interactions between Switzerland and communist regime have been called into question. Though it is well known Switzerland has allowed Korean Workers’ Party members to attend Swiss schools, it has recently come to light that these efforts included training for North Korean military officers. This occurred at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), an international school that teaches courses with titles like Disruptive Technologies and International Security, Air and Missile Warfare, and Skills Enhancement for Political Advisors.

Although the program has been ongoing since 2011, Swiss citizens were only recently made aware that their country’s defense ministry was paying for the training using Swiss tax dollars. The program was brought to the attention of the Swiss public when a reporter from Blick, a Swiss tabloid and as reported by Swissinfo, filmed two North Korean officers being escorted to a shooting practice exercise. With Switzerland’s recently toughened sanctions on North Korea, in response to repeated missile and nuclear tests, the Swiss government decided to end the program. However, the Swiss government continues to allow North Korean officers to train at GCSP so long as North Korea pays for the training. In defense of the program, some within the Swiss defense ministry claimed this was only part of an ongoing effort open up what they defined as a “somewhat closed” country.

Other controversies surround some of the financial interactions between Switzerland and North Korea. Swiss banks, known worldwide for their secrecy and security, have been operating inside the shadowy regime for decades. As part of Switzerland’s recently stepped-up sanctions, these banks have been ordered to close. Likewise, North Korean banks inside of Switzerland have also been only recently ordered to discontinue operations. However, for some time these banks have been under increased scrutiny by U.S., U.K., and South Korean intelligence officials as being fronts for several intricate money laundering schemes, designed to whitewash funds being used to purchase missile and nuclear technology from countries like China, Russia, and Iran in violation of UN Security Sanctions.

Curiosity still swirls around the Golden Star Bank, established in Vienna, Austria in 1982, but was ordered to close in 2004 for engaging in espionage activity, distributing forged currency, and illegal trade of radioactive material. This bank was being operated by the shadowy Bureau 39 of the Korean Workers’ Party. Though the bank is now considered defunct, South Korean intelligence officials believe a branch of Golden Star has been reopened inside of Switzerland under a different name.

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has also accepted a newly installed North Korean ambassador with a “murky” past. Han Tae Song, who in 1992 was expelled from his post in Zimbabwe for his alleged connections to an ivory smuggling ring involving the illegal sale of rhino horns. He was returned to North Korea, but between then and his new post in Switzerland, Han Tae Song had served as the North Korean ambassador to Italy.

Likewise, while Swiss banks accept currency and gold exchanges from many nations and individuals involved questionable practices, what cannot be denied is that Swiss financial institutions have been utilized by North Korea as a means of skirting UN sanctions for illegal nuclear proliferation practices with other rogue regimes like Iran. It is well known by western intelligence that Iran has been and continues to bolster their nuclear weapons programs, and North Korea has been a willing partner in the exchange of money and technology with the Islamic Republic. In his book, Iran’s Deadly Ambition, Ilan Berman writes, “It’s [North Korea’s] most significant – and adverse – role might just be the chief Asian enabler for the Middle East’s emerging hegemon: Iran.” North Korea’s ties with Iran go as far back as 1979, including the establishment of an Iranian embassy in Pyongyang, complete with the first mosque ever built within the communist dictatorship. This mosque remains as one of only five “permitted” sites for worship in North Korea, and as recent as 2012 these Iran and North Korea signed a pact for scientific-technical cooperation.

While Switzerland, and its banking institutions, can continue to claim a neutral status as an explanation for continuing to do business with such nefarious world actors as North Korea and Iran, Western intelligence officials are growing increasingly concerned with whom the DPRK is using Switzerland’s secretive financial institutions to do business with. Berman also writes, “the DPRK also extends support to Iran’s terror proxy of choice: Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia.” Consequently, Switzerland has received repeated scrutiny by U.S. and its allies for refusing to label Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations.

Along these same lines, as noted by Benjamin Weinthal of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy as recently as March 2017, Switzerland has been funding several NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that have openly called for Israel’s destruction. One of which is the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) that operates under the guise of human rights organization, but has just recently compared Israel to the infamous and defunct apartheid government of South Africa. Western intelligence has tagged many such organizations as doing active fundraising for terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.

With these and other instances of shady actors doing financial transactions through Swiss banking institutions, the United States, and other European powers have made attempts to put pressure on the Swiss government to impose further sanctions on governments like North Korea, Iran, and organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. And though it can be said that Switzerland’s interest in these rogue regimes and dubious organizations is purely financial, even humanitarian in intent, it begs to question just how far a nation’s pledged neutrality status can be stretched before they have crossed the line to active enabling, or worse still – collaboration.