Norway’s foreign ministry announced an internal probe and accepted the resignation of veteran diplomat Mona Juul after revelations tying her and her husband to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Juul, who has served as ambassador to Israel, the United Kingdom and as Norway’s permanent representative to the United Nations, stepped down on grounds that the controversy left her unable to perform her duties and had eroded public trust.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide framed the case as a grave lapse of judgment, saying Juul’s contacts with a convicted sex offender made it difficult for her to rebuild the trust required for her role. Juul’s lawyer said she will cooperate fully with the ministry’s investigation and cited intense personal pressure from the ongoing disclosure of Epstein-related documents.
The diplomatic couple at the centre of the storm, Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen, played prominent roles in the 1990s peace process that produced the Oslo Accords and later ran the International Peace Institute in New York. Norwegian media reported that Epstein left $10 million in his will to the couple’s two children, and Rød-Larsen has previously apologised for his links to Epstein; he headed the New York-based think tank until 2020.
The affair has widened beyond the Juul–Rød-Larsen household. Several senior Norwegian figures have been named in newly disclosed Epstein files, including former foreign minister and World Economic Forum president Børge Brende and former prime minister and Council of Europe figure Thorbjørn Jagland. Norway’s anti-corruption prosecutors have already opened a formal inquiry into Jagland on suspicion of corruption, and the foreign ministry has launched a review of past funding provided to the think tank formerly run by Rød-Larsen.
The story matters beyond individual reputations. Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution, his 2019 arrest and subsequent death in custody have long fuelled scrutiny of the networks around him; recent US Department of Justice disclosures have expanded the list of Western political, academic and financial elites with ties to Epstein. For Norway, a small state that has built influence through principled diplomacy and multilateral engagement, the scandal risks tarnishing institutions and the legacy of diplomats whose careers were built on personal networks and the soft power of mediation.