North Korea Supports Scottish Independence

With less than a week to go until Scots decides whether or not it will stay part of the United Kingdom, the "Yes Campaign" for independence can count North Korea among its supporters.

Aides to North Korea's communist "supreme leader" Kim Jong-un told the British Daily Telegraph he is "feeling positive" that Scotland will vote for independence on September 18. North Korea would be eager to trade its natural resources for Scotch whisky.

"I believe independence will be positive as it will encourage personal exchanges and provide both countries with business chances," Choe Kwan Il, managing editor of Choson Sinbo newspaper, told The Daily Telegraph. Choson Sinbo is a pro-North Korea paper in Japan, published in Korean and Japanese for the roughly 200,000 Koreans living in Japan who swear allegiance to North Korea.

"I believe that every person has the right to be a member of an independent nation, to have sovereignty, to live in peace and to enjoy equality," said Choe. "And I believe that a majority of Scots feel the same and will vote for independence."

News of Scotland's looming vote for independence has not been reported in North Korea, and it's unlikely North Korea will set up an embassy in Edinburgh, said So Chung On, director of the International Affairs Bureau of the General Association of Korean Residents of Japan—also known as Chongryon—an organization representing pro-North Korea Koreans in Japan. It acts as the "unofficial representative" of the North Korean government in Japan, The Atlantic reports.

If Scots decide on independence, So expects any Scottish diplomatic presence in North Korea to go through the existing British Embassy in Pyongyang.