North Korea turns further inward with embassy closures

SEOUL -- A recent spate of reported embassy closures by North Korea shows that international sanctions are successfully cutting off the regime's sources of revenue, a South Korean lawmaker and former diplomat for the North said Thursday.

North Korea's state news agency on Monday announced that Pyongyang's ambassadors in Angola and Uganda had held "farewell visits" with the presidents of those African nations. Local media in South Korea and Japan have reported that the North also plans to shutter its diplomatic posts in Spain and Hong Kong.