North Koreans visit mad country

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe this week received a delegation from the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (North Korea), nailing his political association colours to the mast. He looked very comfortable in the company of the group from the far-flung outpost of tyranny. The visit cemented Mugabe’s relations with North Koreans and paraded their political affinity, while it was also a throwback to the dark era of the 1980s. Mugabe thanked the North Koreans at a state banquet held for them on Monday night, saying they had provided support in areas of construction, defence, security, energy, mining, health and arts and culture. He claimed the visit was a “clear demonstration of support and solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe” in the context of the inclusive government. Mugabe congratulated North Koreans for their widely condemned satellite launch last month. The launch was slammed by influential sections of the international community, especially the US, Japan and EU states, as provocative and a threat to international peace and security. Venturing deeper into the subject and displaying his admiration for the North Koreans, Mugabe thanked the country’s founder, the late “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung. “The Great Leader will thus live forever in our memories of the revolutionary struggle we waged to earn our freedom,” Mugabe said. “Not only did he provide us with training facilities for our cadres, but he extended us substantial material assistance by way of weaponry. We thank him today as we did yesterday.” Mugabe forged a close relationship with the “Great Leader” in the late 1970s at the height of the liberation struggle. His 21st February Movement is modelled along Kim Il Sung’s Juche ideological lines of following the “party and the dear leader”. Because Joshua Nkomo’s Zipra forces received support from the orthodox Moscow-led Soviet bloc, Mugabe had to find his own sponsors for Zanla in Bejing and Pyongyang. This explains Harare’s frosty relations with Moscow up to this day. The alliance between Zanla and Pyongyang was a rare breakthrough for Kim Il Sung to pursue his own foreign policy adventures. So when Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 it immediately became North Korea’s most ambitious foreign policy objective. Hundreds of North Korean military advisers were deployed to Zimbabwe, not only to train but also equip the professional army and Mugabe’s shock-troops, the notorious 5th Brigade, with T-54 tanks, trucks, armoured cars, heavy artillery, anti-aircraft batteries and a plethora of small arms and ammunition. For a few years Kim Il Sung even dreamt of emulating Fidel Castro and, from his Zimbabwean base, had over 3 000 troops helping the Angolan, Mozambican and Ethiopian governments. Mugabe’s association with North Koreans is very controversial. While they backed the liberation war effort, the same North Koreans trained the 5th Brigade which killed at least 20 000 Zimbabweans in the southwestern region from 1982-87 during the Gukurahundi campaign. For most balanced and objective Zimbabweans, the North Koreans are therefore not welcome. Their presence is seen as not only an insult to the families and relatives of those killed by the 5th Brigade, but also an affront to our collective conscience and humanity as a nation. How do serious leaders receive with open arms agents of a regime which was behind grisly massacres of their own fellow citizens? Does this not speak volumes about Mugabe’s attitude and government’s approach towards the untold atrocities which left scars and bitterness in the consciences of all civilised Zimbabweans? Perhaps we can understand Mugabe’s friendship with the North Koreans, but how about the MDC leaders? Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and deputy prime minister Thokozani Khuphe were part of the Zanu PF delegation which received the North Koreans at the airport. It was an unbelievable scene. Industry and Commerce minister Welshman Ncube and other ministers later joined in the fray, taking the North Koreans to our collapsed industries and other sectors of the economy as if they expect serious investment from a country which can’t even feed its population. North Korea, like the impoverished Zimbabwe of today, relies on food aid to feed its citizens. So what sort of investment do we expect from there? As part of the tour, inclusive government leaders dined, wined and enjoyed at the taxpayers’ expense with the North Koreans. But the whole trip was an offensive and distasteful event for most Zimbabweans. The Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) captured the mood very well. “We wish to castigate and condemn all those who embraced and gave North Koreans a warm reception,” Zinasu spokesman Blessing Vava said. “We throw our support behind all the progressive Zimbabweans who are calling for their immediate departure from Zimbabwe. Lest people forget, North Korea provided training to the notorious 5th Brigade troops who massacred close to 20 000 innocent civilians. North Korea also is on top on the list of worst human rights violators in the world. “We appreciate our country is in dire need of funds and resources but this should not be an excuse for government to accommodate, wine and dine with well-known dictators, human rights violators, and vampires,” Vava said. BY DUMISANI MULEYA