Foreign diplomats flee North Korea amid food and drug shortages

SEOUL -- Diplomats and humanitarian group workers stationed in North Korea are leaving in droves due to acute shortages of food, medical supplies and other essentials, as a yearlong lockdown of the border with China plunges the isolated country's economy into chaos.

The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang reported a "collective exit" of diplomatic missions from North Korea in a Facebook post Thursday. The representative offices for 12 countries including the U.K., Venezuela, Brazil and Germany are locked, and foreign staffers at international humanitarian organizations have all left the country, according to the post.