US President George W Bush's now infamous axis of evil' no longer runs through a North Finchley street which, until last Wednesday, was home to the fledgling embassy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Three diplomats, including a charg d'affaires, arrived in the semi-detached house in Sandringham Road in November, with the aim of setting up a full embassy.

The house has been a home to North Korean diplomats since 1986 as the permanent mission of the DPRK to the United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in London.

The axis of evil' instead now bisects Ealing, where the North Koreans have opened their new embassy, complete with brass plaque and flagpole.

But Kim Ik Song, deputy representative to the IMO, would not say if the IMO mission would follow the embassy staff to Ealing.

Displaying all the suspicion and secrecy the DPRK is famed for perhaps understandable given the escalating stand-off between it and the US over its nuclear arms programme Mr Kim said: "Why have you asked this question? That is not for you," before hanging up.

Sandringham Road residents have described IMO and embassy staff as quiet and polite.

The DPRK does not have the only diplomatic presence in the borough.

In August last year, the Republic of Guinea in West Africa opened a consulate in Brent Street, Hendon.

May 6, 2003 10:30