Despite a lack of official engagements and a fleet of just two cars, the embassy is still listed among the top 10 worst diplomatic missions for parking offences in 2013. NK News reports

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The North Korean embassy in London has accrued more than £200,000 worth of unpaid traffic-related fines, a ministerial statement presented to the House of Commons revealed on Tuesday.

In a written statement, Mark Simmonds, parliamentary under-secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, reported that the DPRK Embassy in London has built up debts of up debts of £194,565 since 2003 for failing to pay the city's congestion charge. It also owes £10,320 in parking fines from 2013 alone.

While North Korea’s congestion charge fines paled in comparison with the United States embassy – ranked the worst offender with almost £8million in unpaid fines for parking offences in 2013 – their unpaid parking fines were surprisingly high given the small size of their embassy, which is based out of a semi-detached house in Ealing.

Despite a lack of frequent diplomatic engagements and a fleet of just two cars, North Korea’s London parking fines for 2013 were eighth worst out of the 49 offenders listed in the parliamentary statement. South Korea is not listed among the offenders.

However, in the list for unpaid congestion charges, North Korea fares better than South Korea, which owed nearly six times more with almost £1.25m in unpaid fines since 2003.

“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has held face-to-face meetings with a number of missions about outstanding parking fine debt,” the statement read.

“In addition,” it continues, “in April this year we wrote to diplomatic missions and international organisations concerned giving them the opportunity to either pay their outstanding fines or appeal against them if they considered that the fines had been issued incorrectly”.



Owing the most in parking fines were the High Commission for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which owes £74,557, and the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, which owes £30,690.

The statement also included details of serious crimes allegedly committed by those with diplomatic immunity in the United Kingdom, which included two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol by staff of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, and a case of Child Abduction and a case Domestic Rape by staff at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.