Russian Ministers Ejected from Conference Room After Diplomatic Faux Pas in Pyongyang

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/34585

by MetaIIicat

17 comments

  1. Ahead of the bilateral meeting between delegations from Russia and North Korea, which was being broadcast live on state-run TV on Wednesday, June 19, the Moscow team was unceremoniously thrown out for entering the conference room before the two leaders, according to report in the Moscow Times.

    It is apparently customary on such occasions to wait to be summoned to join the meeting by Kim Jong Un after he and his principal guest enter.

    Seven ministers as well as support staff from the russian mission, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and Deputy Prime Ministers Vitaly Savelyev and Alexander Novak, along with Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov were shown entering the room, getting set for the meeting and taking their seats.

    Lavrov apparently started to complain that he had been made dirty by something, when a North Korean official could be heard telling them off-camera to stop what they were doing and to leave the room, saying: “We have a protocol. We invite you to the table. Our leaders will join us shortly.”

    As a member of the Russian delegation began to object the broadcast abruptly ended to be replaced by (presumably previous footage) of a now-empty conference room.

    Kim said Putin was the “dearest friend of the Korean people” and declared “full support and solidarity with the Russian government” in its war in Ukraine.

    Putin, in turn, thanked the Democratic People’s Korean Republic (DPKR) for its “consistent and unwavering” support and calling for a review of the [UN](https://www.kyivpost.com/topic/un) sanctions regime that bans weapons supplies and purchases to and from Pyongyang.

  5. Funny, but the diplomatic protocol is pretty strickt, and it may vary from country to country.

    This is an example for the US Department of State:

    *Receiving Lines*

    *The most traditional receiving line consists of the host, the guest of honor, the partner or co-host of the host, and the partner of the guest of honor, in that order. One person from the host’s staff typically facilitates the order and gives instructions to the guest (i.e., please give your name and your spouse’s name upon greeting the host). The direction that guests enter into the receiving line can vary, but the host should be the first person to receive the guests, followed by the guest of honor. Announce cards, used in place of nametags, can be used to assist the host in identifying guests. Depending on the event, a photographer may be requested for candid or posed photos, at the determination of the host. A purse-runner can assist with holding bags as guests go through the line, and a table can be set for guests to place their belongings, depending on the configuration of the line. Special amenities to consider include hot towels, hand sanitizer, and a waiter with a tray to collect drinks before guests greet the host and guest of honor.*

    Little that happens during high level diplomatic meetings is spontaneous or accidental.

  6. Treated like servants, as they deserve for bending their knee to tyrants. They’re some bitches.

  7. Lol, yeah – do as you’re told like good little boys you fucking bootlicking cockroaches.

  8. This whole trip must be a humiliation for Putin.

    10 years ago, it wouldn’t have been imaginable.

    Now Russia is looking like a junior partner to North korea. What a joke.

  9. How did this (potentially embarrassing) info even leak?

  11. russians on reddit are already downplaying this with a real life cope: *”It was a minor misunderstanding*”.

  12. lavrov drinking instead of learning host’s protocol

  14. How does China feel about what’s happening here (the trip overall, not Kim’s people being mad at Putin’s here)?

  16. Hehe, I love how Lavrov always gets inside these situations where everyone is disrespecting him. He seems to attract these situations for the last years, I love it.

  17. I don’t think the Russians realize how crazy N Koreans really are.

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