AFRICAN NATIONS FINANCE MUCH OF NORTH KOREA’S MILITARY SPENDING

…In Dakar, Senegal’s capital, a North Korea-built statue. larger than the Statue of Liberty, depicts a man holding a baby in one arm and a woman with the other. It has angered many local Muslims as the woman was scarcely clad

 

North Korea built Namibia’s history museum, presidential palace and its Defense Headquarters and munitions factory in Africa.

 

We have been hearing how destitute North Korea is and how the dictatorship use their revenues for their military and for the building of their nuclear bombs.  We’ve seen the pictures of their dead civilians in the streets due to starvation.

 

If that’s the case, and since 90% of their trade is with mainland China, where do they get all their resources to finance these large military expenditures since their only real natural export is coal, and most of that goes to China.

The answer is that they do major profitable business with the nations of Africa.

 

In the city of Windhoek, Namibia, near the southern tip of Africa, that’s 8,000 miles from Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.  This African capital city is an unlikely testament to North Korea’s major industry.

 

There is today the futuristic Namibia National History Museum, and the sleek presidential palace, plus the sprawling Namibia Defense Headquarters and the shadowy Namibia munitions factory. They were all built, or are in the process of being constructed, by North Korea, for a very large profit.

For years, North Korea has used African nations like this one as their financial lifelines.  The North Koreans build many different infrastructures and they sell weapons and other military equipment as the US sanctions have continued against this authoritarian regime.

 

Yes, China is by far North Korea’s largest trading partner.  But the multiple, African revenue streams have more than helped support the impoverished dictator’s hermit-type kingdom.  That's even as its leader develops ambitious nuclear-weapons programs in defiance of the international community.

 

Now that the ambitious young grandson of the first family dictator has taken over, his ambitions have led to last week’s launch of the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile.

Even though the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, warned that any nation with military or economic ties to North Korea “is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime,” and the Trump administration threatened to cutoff trade with countries that were doing business with the dictatorship, the nations in Africa have basically ignored the novice US administration.

 

Namibian officials describe a totally different North Korea from what we have been shown.  They tell about a longtime ally, a partner in development and a very affordable building contractor. Since the 1960s, when North Korea began providing support for African nations during their struggles with European powers, the regime has developed political ties on the African continent that have turned into their prosperous relationships.

 

“We’ve relied on them for help to develop our infrastructure, and their work has been unparalleled,” said Frans Kapofi, Namibia’s minister of presidential affairs.

 

Across Africa, such relationships with North Korea have become quite common.

 

A United Nations investigation this year described North Korean military radio equipment being shipped to Eritrea, Africa, and automatic weapons were being sold to the Congo.  In addition, military trainers have been sent to Angola and Uganda.

 

“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication”.  The report said. It went on to describe how “the country also uses its construction companies that are active in Africa to build arms-related, military and security facilities.”

 

North Korea’s commercial relationships are only one sign of the surprisingly close ties many African leaders have with the secretive, highly repressive Asian country.

Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s longtime president, said he learned basic Korean from Kim Il Sung, the former leader of North Korea and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong In. That was during Kim Il Sung's various visits to that country. Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe sent two live rhinos to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, as a show of solidarity in the 1980s, (both died shortly after arriving). In Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, the main street “Avenida Kim Il Sung” runs through the heart of downtown Maputo. In Namibia’s national museum, a black-and-white picture of a North Korean soldier leading a group of local Namibia soldiers hangs in the foyer.

 

“Our world outlook was determined by who was on our side during the most crucial time of our struggle, and North Korea was there for us,” said Tuliameni Kalomoh, a senior adviser in the Namibian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the country’s former ambassador to Washington.

…This is a picture of a giant statue of Mozambique's first president Samora Moises Machel in Maputo built by North Koreans in 2014.

 

In recent years, African countries have struggled to maintain their ties to North Korea without alienating the United States, the largest aid donor on the continent.  They also struggle not publicly violating UN sanctions aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear-weapons program. In measures going back a decade, the United Nations has barred countries from contracting with North Korea for military training or services or arms manufacturing.

 

“Pyongyang’s ties to Africa allow it to show it still has friends abroad and benefit from their political support. They also represent a source of revenue, new entry points into the international financial system, and a haven in which to base North Korean representatives and front companies,” said Andrea Berger, a North Korea expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA.

The Namibian government has spent about $100 million on North Korean projects since 2002, a sum that goes a long way in an Asian nation like North Korea where average per capita income is about $1,000 per year. But in comparison, China imports about $3 billion in North Korean goods per year, but that's mostly coal.

 

Last year, the United Nations said that Namibia had violated UN sanctions by maintaining its commercial ties to North Korea.

 

Among other activities, Namibia had contracted with a North Korean company called Mansudae Overseas Projects to construct a large munitions factory as well as a new military academy. A company with links to Mansudae, called the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (known as KOMID) also worked on the munitions factory, according to the UN report. The US Treasury Department last year called KOMID North Korea’s “primary arms dealer” and sanctioned two North Korean officials based in Windhoek. The department also sanctioned Mansudae, calling it one of a number of companies that sent workers abroad in part to earn money for the government or ruling party.

 

After being accused of violating sanctions, Namibian officials pledged to cut commercial ties with North Korea, which is formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK. The Namibian government said in a statement in 2016 that it “remains committed to the implementation of all UN sanctions resolutions,” but added that “the warm diplomatic relations with the DPRK will be maintained.”

 

Over a year later, it appears that North Korean guest workers are still laboring on Namibia’s new Ministry of Defense, a large concrete building just outside of Windhoek’s city center, according to several residents who live nearby.

 

“We see them every day or two,” said one resident who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn’t want to be seen as criticizing the government. “They never left.”

 

In interviews, government officials said they were hoping to complete the current projects before expelling the workers, even though allowing the North Korean contractors to linger would likely be a violation of UN sanctions if they are still affiliated with KOMID.

 

“We are definitely towards the end of phasing them out,” said Kapofi, who added that he could not confirm the presence of the guest workers at the defense ministry.

 

Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, recently warned that the United States might cut off trade with countries that were violating UN sanctions by doing business with North Korea.

 

Namibia did $469 million of trade with the United States in 2013, the most recent figures released by the Office of the US Trade Representative. The US government also contributes to Namibian health-care initiatives, particularly related to HIV/AIDS.

 

“As a part of our maximum pressure campaign, we are committed to ensuring that DPRK’s arms-related exports, assistance, training, and support activities are terminated, including in Africa,” said US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, in response to a question about Namibia’s ties with North Korea.

 

Other African countries were also supposed to end their economic and military relationships with North Korea after the UN sanctions were imposed. But it remains unclear whether any have done so.

 

UN member states are obliged to issue reports describing their efforts to enforce sanctions. But the UN panel of experts report in 2016 noted “an extremely high number of non-reporting and late-reporting States” and the “poor quality and lack of detail of the reports received.”

 

Some African nations have appeared to distance themselves from North Korea. After photos appeared showing North Korean military trainers wearing Ugandan military uniforms last year, Uganda’s foreign minister, Sam Kutesa, said on state television, “We are disengaging the cooperation we are having with North Korea, as a result of UN sanctions.”

 

Even if North Korea’s commercial ties to Africa do eventually fade, relics of the engagement will endure.

 

Other North Korean statues, mostly of African revolutionary leaders, were sold to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Benin and Congo. UN sanctions introduced in 2016 barred countries from buying any more such statues.

…The North Korean built war memorial statue in Windhoek, Africa

 

One of the biggest projects is this war memorial statue outside of Windhoek, where a towering bronze statue of an unknown soldier carrying a rifle stands in front of a slim obelisk.

 

But from the top of the monument, the view was clear: the city and the rolling hills in the distance, and in the foreground a North Korean-built Windhoek military base.

 Both China and North Korea have been developing stronger relationships than the US in most parts of Africa.  What that lack of investment by the US will mean for the long term is a major question.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017