AN assault on the North Korean embassy in Spain, originally dismissed as a hysterical woman’s overreaction, was probably espionage.

The ambassador Kim Hyok Chol was expelled by Spain following North Korea’s nuclear tests in September 2017. Only one diplomat, staff and their families now live at the embassy in the exclusive Aravaca area outside Madrid.

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Late last month ten men stormed the house, hooding its occupants whom they tied up, struck and interrogated.

“They carried replica weapons and held the Koreans for two hours,” sources close to the case revealed.

A woman who managed to escape through a window was spotted minutes later by a National Police patrol car. She had a head wound and after using a mobile app to communicate with her, they understood that she and the others at the embassy were violently attacked by other Koreans.

The police rang at the outer gates which were opened by a man “of oriental appearance” who said that everything was in order.

Despite initially believing him and assuming that the woman was unbalanced, the patrol car remained nearby and shortly afterwards police saw two cars with diplomatic plates leave the house.

Once inside they found the embassy official and the others who were bruised and shaken.

The attackers took mobiles, laptops and documentation with them before fleeing in the stolen embassy cars which were abandoned and located hours later.

The investigation is being conducted with maximum discretion owing to the “delicacy” of the incident but everything points to espionage, the same sources said.