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Relations between Mozambique
and North Korea, 1975-1992
Above: Kim Il-sung (left) receiving President Samora Machel of Mozambique (right, waving to the crowd) in Pyongyang during the latter's visit in mid-1978. The two countries had signed a cooperation agreement in August 1975, soon after Mozambican independence.
Since 2006, when it conducted its first test of a nuclear bomb, North Korea has been subject to economic and commercial sanctions imposed by several countries and by the United Nations. In February 2018, CNN reported that Mozambique was involved in “sanctions-busting” with North Korea via fishing cooperation, and that “North Korea [was] providing military training to elite Mozambican forces and offering technical support to the military”.
However, according to a Voice of America report, the Mozambican government officially denied that it was breaking sanctions, shifting the blame to the private sector. The government further stated that it was “working with private Mozambican businesses to educate them about the sanctions and shut down illegal operations”.
The truth is, however, that North Korea has been engaged in Africa for decades. As Merve Demirel wrote in an article entitled “Why North Korea sanctions are failing in Africa,” published in The Diplomat in December 2017:
During the 1960s when several African countries, who still maintain relations with North Korea, were struggling to come out of colonialism, North Korea invested time and money on their revolutions, seeing it as an opportunity to spread its socialist agenda. Thus, it built influence, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, among those in power with more anti-Western ideologies. This influence has survived to the present day and is visible in the … trade numbers.
In fact, regardless of the truth of the story that cooperation still exists at an official level, there’s no doubt that relations between Mozambique and North Korea do go back a long way, especially during the immediately post-independence period when the revolutionary República Popular de Moçambique regarded most Communist or socialist countries as its “natural allies”. The documents and clippings below illustrate some aspects of the history of cooperation with North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: 조선민주주의인민공화국, or Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk), starting with a report that an agreement on economic and technical cooperation had been signed between the two countries only days after independence. It’s also worth noting that President Samora Machel visited North Korea at least twice, in 1978 and in 1984. The press reports linked below on relations between Mozambique and the DPRK cover the period from 1975 to 1992.
MHN Resources
(in chronological order)
◊ 10 March 1975
Samora Moisés Machel. Estamos confiantes na reunificação pacífica da pátria coreana: Samora Machel ao Presidente Kim Il Sung. Notícias, Maputo, 10 March 1975, page 2. Reference taken from Souto e Sopa, Samora Machel: Bibliografia, 1970-1986 (Maputo, 1996), page 57. Unavailable on Mozambique History Net.
◊ 1 August 1975
Sem título. In: Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens, Paris, 1 August 1975. Mozambique and North Korea sign an agreement on economic and technical cooperation shortly after independence on 25 July 1975. In French. Click here to download a PDF file, size 197 kb.
◊ 8 September 1976
Medical aid from Korea. Notícias, Maputo, 8 September 1976 [English translation from Portuguese]. Click here to download a PDF file, size 393 kb.
◊ 24 June 1978
Coreia. Tempo, Maputo, no. Especial, 24 June 1978, pages 4-17. Part of an illustrated special issue of the weekly news magazine devoted to Samora Machel’s visits to North Korea, Mongolia, China and Hungary. The photographs show welcoming banners in North Korea written in Spanish rather than Portuguese. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 15 November 1981
Delegação militar da Coreia em Moçambique. Tempo no.579, 15 November 1981, p.2. Click here to download a PDF file, size 381 kb.
◊ 23 February 1982
Mensagem de Kim Il Sung para Presidente Samora: oferecida recepção em honra do Vice-Presidente coreano. Notícias, Maputo, 23 February 1982. Click here to download a PDF file, size 180 Kb.
◊ 24 February 1982
Pak Song Chol visitou o CAIL. Notícias, Maputo, 24 February 1982. Pak Song-chol (1913-2008) was successively foreign minister (1959-1970), prime minister (1976-1977), and vice-president (1977-1997) of North Korea. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 25 February 1982
Relações RPM-RPDC. Concertada estratégia anti-imperialista: Pak Song Chol deixa Maputo. Notícias, Maputo, 25 February 1982. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 2 April 1982
No title. Daily News, Dar es Salaam, 2 April 1982. Samora Machel will visit the DPRK from 13 to 17 April. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 30 July 1982
Mozambique-DPRK cooperation. Summary of World Broadcasts, London. Report of a radio news item broadcast on 30 July 1982. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 18 February 1983
N Korea's promise of more military and other support for Mozambique. Summary of World Broadcasts, London. Report of a broadcast on 18 February 1983. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 23 May 1984
Moçambique e Coreia assinam acordo sobre telecomunicações. Notícias, Maputo, 23 May 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 3 July 1984
Este mês em visitas oficiais, Samora Machel vai à China e à Coreia. Notícias, Maputo, 3 July 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 17 July 1984
Visita presidencial à China e Coreia a partir de hoje. Notícias, Maputo, 17 July 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 23 July 1984
Visita à República Popular Democrática da Coreia: Presidente Samora acolhido calorosamente em Pyongyang. Notícias, Maputo, 23 July 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 24 July 1984
Visita presidencial à RPD da Coreia: destacado o papel da RPM na luta pela paz na região. Notícias, Maputo, 24 July 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 7 September 1984
É mais sólida cooperação com RPM, disser embaixador coreano. Notícias, Maputo, 7 September 1984. Press conference by Ambassador Kang Su-myong on the 36th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK on 9 September 1948. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 10 September 1984
Associamo-nos às vitórias do povo coreano. Notícias, Maputo, 10 September 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 13 October 1984
Acordos com a Coreia em fase de execução. Notícias, Maputo, 13 October 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
Above: President Samora Machel (left) and Kim Il-sung greeting each other warmly in Pyongyang during a visit in the 1980s.
◊ 26 October 1984
Em visita oficial, vice-presidente coreano desde ontem em Maputo. Notícias, Maputo, 26 October 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 26 October 1984
Vice-presidente coreano chega a Maputo. Notícias, Maputo, 26 October 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 29 October 1984
Vice-presidente coreano esteve no Chókwè. Notícias, Maputo, 29 October 1984. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 21 February 1985
Cha Myong-guk. Camaradas de armas e íntimos irmãos: novo embaixador da Coreia no nosso país. Notícias, Maputo, 21 February 1985. The text of a short speech by the new DPRK ambassador, Cha Myong-guk, as he presented his credentials to President Samora Machel. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 21 February 1985
Samora Moisés Machel. Exemplo típico de cooperação sul-sul: Presidente Samora Machel. Short remarks in response to the speech by the new ambassador (previous item). Notícias, Maputo, 21 February 1985. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 16 May 1986
Delegação coreana encontra-se em Maputo. Notícias, Maputo, 16 May 1986. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 30 October 1986
N. Korea pledges solidarity with Mozambique. Summary of World Broadcasts, London. Transcript of a Mozambican radio broadcast on 30 October 1986. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 11 December 1986
DPRK youths off to Mozambique. Herald, Harare, 11 December 1986. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 9 October 1987
Entre o Partido Frelimo e PTC, relações de amizade entram em nova etapa, assegura embaixador Cha Myong Guk. Notícias, Maputo, 9 October 1987. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 29 November 1987
Cooperação entre Frelimo e PTC. Domingo, Maputo, 29 November 1987. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 28 January 1988
Assinado protocolo com a Coreia. Notícias, Maputo, 28 January 1988. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 10 May 1988
[Alberto Chipande] meets with Kim Il-Song. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), Washington DC, no.FBIS-AFR-88-154, page 3. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 21 May 1988
Benjamim Faduco. Paz é condição para harmonia entre povos, reafirma Presidente Chissano em Pyongyang. Notícias, Maputo, 21 May 1988, page 1. PDF file of the document not yet available.
◊ 23 May 1988
Moçambique e Coreia fortalecem relações: Japão próxima etapa na digressão asiática do Presidente Joaquim Chissano. Notícias, Maputo, 23 May 1988, page 1. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 8 August 1988
Chipande, delegation depart for PRC, DPRK. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), Washington DC, no.FBIS-Afr-88-152. Alberto Chipande’s visit to China and North Korea. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 9 August 1988
Chipande recebido por Kim Il Sung. Notícias, Maputo, 9 August 1988, page 1. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 10 August 1988
Chipande begins defense cooperation talks in DPRK. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), Washington DC, 10 August 1988, no.FBIS-Afr-88-154, p.3. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 1 September 1988
Delegation departs for DPRK celebrations. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), Washington DC. Transcript of a short Mozambican radio news item. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.
◊ 15 April 1992
Pelo aniversário natalício, Chissano felicita seu homologo norte-coreano. Notícias, Maputo,. Click here to view or download a PDF file of the document.