Nam, North Korea cut ties

ELLANIE SMIT The Namibian government has terminated all contracts with North Korean companies.The minister of international relations and cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, said the government invited the United Nations (UN) Security Council to visit Namibia to show them that the country has complied with sanctions.She was speaking to Nampa during an interview in New York on Wednesday where she is attending the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.The UN Security Council has passed a series of resolutions to impose sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear weapons programme.The latest sanction imposed on North Korea was adopted on Monday and one of the issues that appear in that resolution is the North Korean labour force in other countries.“There are quite a number of [North] Koreans who are working in different countries of the world and the resolution now says there should be no further employment of North Korean labour,” the minister said.She added that the resolution states that such people’s employment contracts should not be renewed when they end.Nandi-Ndaitwah explained that the projects Namibia had with North Korea were not investment- or enterprise-related, but rather infrastructure development projects.The contracts that have been terminated include the maintenance and renovation of State House and the Heroes’ Acre.“The construction of the Ministry of Defence headquarters has not been completed but we had to break that contract,” she said.Nandi-Ndaitwah said she visited North Korea last year to deliver a message from President Hage Geingob, which said that Namibia valued the long relationship between the countries but in view of the UN Security Council resolution, the country had no choice in the matter.The United States and Japanese governments recently imposed sanctions against companies and individuals in Namibia that support North Korea.The sanctions were imposed against the Chinese construction company Qingdao Construction for its links with North Korea.That happened after Qingdao Construction had taken over four Namibian government construction projects from Mansudae Overseas Group of Companies, which had been told to leave Namibia.Sanctions were also brought against Kim Tong-Chol, who is the managing director of Mansudae Overseas Projects and the deputy managing director of Qingdao Construction (Namibia).Mansudae Overseas Projects Architectural and Technical Services, the Namibian-based company of Mansudae, was also sanctioned. Geingob, who is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, is scheduled to address the General Assembly on September 20.According to a statement released by the Presidency, apart from the UN General Assembly, Geingob’s itinerary includes other engagements such as private consultations with UN secretary-general António Guterres.Presidential spokesperson Albertus Aochamub said a number of influential media outlets that include Voice of America, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, CNN, Financial Times, New York Times and the Washington Post had requested interviews with Geingob.International media reported that Geingob was expected to be grilled over Namibia’s relationship with North Korea during his visit to the US.Also on the radar is a munitions factory that was constructed by Mansudae at a military base outside Windhoek.Over the years, Mansudae has been granted no-bid contracts to build multimillion-dollar national monuments such as the Heroes’ Acre and the Independence Memorial Museum in Windhoek.It also built a military academy in Okahandja and it was further given a contract to build the new head office of the Ministry of Defence.The new State House was also designed and built by the North Koreans.Namibia has for a long-time resisted international pressure to cut ties with North Korea, amid allegations that the relationship was in contravention of international sanctions against Pyongyang.- Additional reporting Nampa

Nam, North Korea cut ties

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-06-16

Please login to leave a comment

Nam, North Korea cut ties

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-06-16

Please login to leave a comment

Login