North Korean embassies have been central to the country’s efforts to evade international sanctions on its nuclear program, with DPRK diplomats frequently engaged in selling arms and other sanctioned commodities, couriering goods back to Pyongyang and smuggling gold or illegal wildlife products to raise cash.

But these illicit activities by North Korean diplomats precede the onset of strict U.N. sanctions — and in at least one country, even the establishment of a DPRK embassy.

Files from the British national archives show North Korea sought to gain a presence in London long before the DPRK finally opened an embassy in 2003,