The Spanish foreign ministry has asked North Korea’s ambassador to leave Spain before the end of the month due to his country’s repeated refusals to renounce its nuclear weapons program.

“Today, the North Korean ambassador was summoned and was told of the decision to consider him as a persona non grata, therefore he must stop working and abandon the country before 30 September,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Q&A Why does the North Korean regime pursue a nuclear programme? Show Much of the regime’s domestic legitimacy rests on portraying the country as under constant threat from the US and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan.

To support the claim that it is in Washington’s crosshairs, North Korea cites the tens of thousands of US troops lined up along the southern side of the demilitarised zone – the heavily fortified border dividing the Korean peninsula. Faced with what it says are US provocations, North Korea says it has as much right as any other state to develop a nuclear deterrent. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un is also aware of the fate of other dictators who lack nuclear weapons.

The United Nations security council imposed new sanctions after North Korea’s sixth and largest nuclear test this month, and the United States called on countries to sever diplomatic and financial ties with it.



