Denmark asks diplomats to go

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 8

Denmark asks diplomats to go

NZPA-Reuter Copenhagen A Copenhagen waiter and his wife were remanded in custody on Saturday on charges of receiving one million duty-free cigarettes from North Korean diplomats, court sources said. Ten people have now been imprisoned in connection with a racket allegedly run by the diplomats involving the sale of illicit drugs, dutyfree liquor and cigarettes. The Danish Government last night asked North Korea to recall the Ambassador and three diplomats — the entire North Korean Embassy staff — within six days. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said today no reply had been received yet. One of the diplomats told NZPA-Reuter that Ambassador Kim Hong Chui denied

all the charges and was awaiting reaction from his Government before commenting. The chief of the security police, Mr Joem Bro, said the Embassy had been put under surveillance after a newspaper report in May that two North Korean diplomats had been found with 200 kg of hashish in their possession at Cairo Airport. Last week, two North Korean diplomats were caught handing over 147 kg of hashish to a gang of Danes, Syrians and a Lebanese, he told reporters. Well-informed sources said Denmark’s unprecedented demand for the removal of all diplomats at the three-year-old North Korean mission did not mean a break in diplomatic ties.