At the end of a central Jakarta street, in a district where Barack Obama spent part of his childhood, sits an unremarkable building.

Key points: North Korea's Indonesian embassy is the country's closest to Australia

North Korea's Indonesian embassy is the country's closest to Australia The country closed its Canberra embassy in 2008

The country closed its Canberra embassy in 2008 The embassy is one of 50 the Democratic People's Republic of Korea maintains around the world

The modern, four-storey complex is surrounded by a tall concrete wall, low-hanging cables and several strategically placed security cameras.

It is the North Korean embassy — Pyongyang's closest diplomatic outpost to Australia — one of 50 the Democratic People's Republic of Korea maintains across the globe.

In 2017 it was from this compound that Kim Jong-un's regime issued a terse ultimatum to Canberra about its nuclear ambitions, via the Australian embassy just 4 kilometres down the road.

The North Korean embassy in Jakarta is also where curious Australian tourists often launch their visa applications to visit the world's most secretive country.

The Hermit Kingdom closed its Canberra embassy over a decade ago and Australia has not had a diplomatic presence in Pyongyang since it was kicked out in 1975, so the Indonesian capital is the nearest post box for diplomatic despatches.

The North Korean flag flying inside the country's embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. ( ABC News: Andrew Greene )

Two years ago the Department of Foreign Affairs revealed that it sometimes has to resort to faxes to communicate with North Korea.

"There are communications of various kinds, often it has to be said by fax machine, and occasionally by post, so it's not as if there's long periods of radio silence," DFAT secretary Frances Adamson told a parliamentary committee.

But some sensitive matters are best handled elsewhere.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un communicated with Australia over the country's nuclear ambitions from the Jakarta embassy. ( Reuters: Leah Millis )

Take the troubling case of Alek Sigley, the adventurous, multi-lingual Australian academic whose fascination in socialism and northern Asia led him to live in the North Korean capital.

The 29-year-old, who had boldly advertised his ability to walk Pyongyang unmolested by DPRK officialdom, is now missing, but diplomatic efforts to reach him are being handled by Sweden's embassy in North Korea.

What drove North Korea to suddenly close its Canberra embassy in 2008 is not entirely clear, but diplomatic sources believe a lack of funding was the main factor.

Australian officials say they have to resort to faxes to communicate with the North Korean embassy in Jakarta. ( ABC News: Andrew Greene )

In Indonesia, however, relations with North Korea have historically been much closer, despite those ties being strained in recent times over incidents such as the 2017 assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia.

Academic Yohanes Sulaiman observes that Indonesia remains one of the few countries in the world where a significant percentage of the population still thinks positively about the rogue nation.

He argues that Indonesian nationalists believe "North Korea, with its constant fight against the United States, is still seen, at least to them, as a beacon for the struggle, worthy of praise and support".

Andrew Greene travelled to Jakarta as the recipient of the Elizabeth O'Neill scholarship, supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs through the Australia-Indonesia Institute.