India on Wednesday told the United States that it will not shut its embassy in North Korea though it has cut down on trade with Pyongyang in line with the sanctions imposed by the United Nations, Reuters reported.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that some diplomatic presence was needed in North Korea to ensure communication channels were open. “As far as the question of embassy goes, our embassy there is very small, but there is in fact an embassy,” she said. “I told Secretary Tillerson that some of their friendly countries should maintain embassies there so that some channels of communication are kept open.”

Swaraj added that India has, however, recently banned trade of most goods except food and medicine with North Korea. Tillerson and Swaraj met on Wednesday in New Delhi to discuss bilateral, regional and global matters. The H-1B visa matter and Pakistan featured heavily in their talks.

A series of international measures have been taken against North Korea in a bid to push the isolated nation to give up its nuclear weapons programme. Italy expelled North Korea’s incoming new ambassador, China has limited its oil exports to the country. The United Nations imposed fresh, stricter sanctions restricting exports from North Korea and the United States has repeatedly warned of action against the country.