Seoul: Libya has suspended diplomatic operations in South Korea, amid reports of deteriorating relations between the two countries.
The Foreign Ministry, on Monday, confirmed Libya has closed its de facto embassy, an economic cooperation office, in Seoul which means Koreans must now travel to other countries to obtain visas.
It gave no reason for the move.
"There has been no formal notice that Libya will close its economic cooperation bureau here, but we understand that operations there are temporarily suspended," spokesman Kim Young-Sun told a briefing.
Seoul and Tripoli have built strong economic ties since establishing diplomatic relations in 1980, with South Korean firms winning a series of massive civil engineering contracts there.
But the relationship began to turn sour last March when Libya complained that the South Korean media and school textbooks both carried negative descriptions of leader Moamer Kadhafi and the country in general, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported.
Also a South Korean Christian pastor has been detained in the Islamic nation for a month since his arrest for alleged missionary activities and this has further affected the relationship.”
Consular access to the detained South Korean has been denied since his arrest on charges of violating Libya's religious law," a Seoul Foreign Ministry official said. "He was arrested about a month ago and is still being detained for questioning. The government is trying to give him as much support as possible. It is rare to have one of our citizens detained in Libya."
Another South Korean, a resident of Libya, is being questioned for allegedly helping the pastor.
