21 September 2021 | KOREA CHAIR EXPLAINS
Greg Kelly
If you are driving down Fidel Castro St. and take a right on Robert Mugabe Ave. in Windhoek, Namibia, you will be greeted by the Independence Memorial Museum. It is a striking golden building that stands across from the Parliament Gardens. However, the most notable fact about the Independence Memorial Museum’s architecture is who built it. It was built by Mansudae, a North Korean state construction firm. The Independence Memorial Museum is one of many buildings, statues, and factories in Sub-Saharan Africa with similar origins. Historically, the Kim dynasty fostered partnerships throughout Africa by appealing to a shared belief in anticolonialism and demonstrating its self-reliance, known as juche in North Korea. Although these commonalities in ideology helped Pyongyang open diplomatic ties in Sub-Saharan Africa, they soon evolved into economic and military relationships. North Korea was an ideal arms dealer for many cash-strapped autocratic rulers throughout the continent. It provided inexpensive weapons without human rights-based prerequisites that Western support is often contingent on. Let’s examine what North Korean diplomatic efforts are like in Namibia and Uganda. Read more…