Africa should examine its relations with North Korea
A new ISS study asks why most African states refrain from condemning North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.
Pretoria, South Africa – Many African states maintain diplomatic and commercial relations with North Korea despite increased United Nations (UN) sanctions and international condemnation of the country’s ballistic and nuclear weapons programmes. If Africa is to play its part in promoting global peace and security, this counter-productive stance needs to be better understood and reconsidered, says the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
A new Institute for Security Studies (ISS) study released today analyses this trend, and asks why most African states refrain from publicly condemning North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes as a threat to international peace and security.
On 9 September North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test since 2006 – all of which violated various UN Security Council resolutions and were condemned by the majority of the international community.
‘Trade activities between African states and North Korea have increased since Security Council Resolution 1718 was adopted in 2006,’ says Noël Stott, senior research fellow at the ISS and co-author of the study. ‘This may be a sign that the Pyongyang regime has been trying to diversify its economic partnerships to reduce its dependency on China.’
From 2007 to 2015 the value of trade activities between African states and North Korea averaged US$216.5 million per year, compared to an average of US$90 million per year from 1998 to 2006. In 2010, the total trade value peaked at US$627 million.
In recent years, the value of trade between African states and North Korea has dropped off, but still remains sizeable at an average of US$118 million from 2011 to 2015.
According to Nicolas Kasprzyk, co-author of the study and an ISS consultant, this productive relationship may be due to the historical links forged during the Cold War when North Korea’s military trained and assisted African states in the struggles for independence from colonialism.
‘Today, this relationship continues albeit in new forms, mainly commercial,’ says Kasprzyk. ‘In the 1970s, North Korea also participated in educational and cultural exchanges and established numerous Juche (self-reliance) study groups across Africa. Some of these Juche groups still exist, although their real influence looks limited.’
The ISS study finds that few African governments are fully aware of the nature of the North Korean state, in particular with regard to the social and economic conditions under which its citizens live. Reports of human rights violations, the lack of food security and other humanitarian challenges in the country, are rarely covered in the African press.
The question of sanctions should be included on the agenda of the annual consultations between the UN Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC), the report concludes. And the PSC should support African states in implementing sanctions against North Korea.
For the full results of the study, click here.
For enquiries and to arrange media interviews:
Noël Stott: +27 82 828 6070, [email protected]
Nicolas Kasprzyk: +27 81 794 4947, [email protected]
