A student wearing a face mask undergoes a temperature check as he arrives for a lecture on preventative measures against the COVID-19 novel coronavirus at the Pyongyang University of Medicine in Pyongyang on April 22, 2020. (KIM WON JIN / AFP)

SEOUL - Britain temporarily closed its embassy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and all diplomatic staff have left the country, the UK ambassador said on Thursday, the latest foreign delegation to leave amid strict coronavirus restrictions.

“The British Embassy in Pyongyang closed temporarily on 27 May 2020 and all diplomatic staff have left the DPRK for the time being,” ambassador Colin Crooks said in a post on Twitter.

The UK maintains diplomatic relations with the DPRK and will seek to re-establish a presence in Pyongyang as soon as possible, according to a statement 

The decision was made because “restrictions on entry to the country have made it impossible to rotate our staff and sustain the operation of the Embassy,” the UK Foreign Office said in a statement.

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The UK maintains diplomatic relations with the DPRK and will seek to re-establish a presence in Pyongyang as soon as possible, according to the statement.

Citing unnamed sources, Seoul-based NK News, which monitors the DPRK, reported that the diplomats crossed the border into China by land, as flights remain on hold.

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The DPRK has not confirmed any cases of the coronavirus but banned almost all cross-border travel, and made foreigners spend weeks in quarantine.

In March, several countries, including Germany and France, withdrew their representatives from the DPRK and closed their missions there.

Sweden’s ambassador to the DPRK, Joachim Bergstrom, is among the foreign diplomats remaining in Pyongyang, tweeting on Thursday that “a new working day begins” in the city.