CNN, UN Panel raise the pressure on Namibia over North Korea sanctions violations

Namibia (or as some refer to it locally, Nambia) has long been one of Africa’s worst violators of UN sanctions against North Korea, including by hosting an arms factory run by Mansudae Overseas Projects Group, in violation of an arms embargo that has been in effect since the adoption of UNSCR 1718 in 2006. It has also been a major consumer of North Korean slave labor (the export of which was only recently truncated by UNSCR 2375) and statues (also a recent ban, under UNSCR 2321). Mansudae itself was subsequently designated in UNSCR 2371. Because this commerce invariably caused dollars to change hands, this also meant that North Korean money launderers based in South Africa transited to and from Windhoek and made use of Namibian banks and a South African insurance company.

To add to the corruption of cherished institutions, I was even distressed to see some of Mansudae’s construction make a brief cameo in an episode of “The Grand Tour.”

The exposure of these illicit relationships began with the U.N. Panel of Experts’ report in March 2016. Because Namibia is functionally a one-party state that nonetheless has a vigorously free press, my own first post on its violations of the sanctions and potential consequences under U.S. law went viral in Namibia (see update). This was followed by some outstanding investigative reporting by Namibian journalist John Grobler for NK News, and sharp criticism in the Namibian press. The Namibian government initially pretended as if it was winding up those relationships, but in retrospect, it was probably just stalling for time until things settled down.

Now, CNN has added its own outstanding investigation to our information about North Korea and Namibia. Click the image to watch its video report.

One interesting detail in CNN’s report is that Namibia is a recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. Unfortunately for Namibia, under section 203 of the NKSPEA, as amended by section 313 of the KIMS Act, it now becomes ineligible for certain categories of U.S. assistance. Second and more acutely, now that there can be no doubt that its violations were knowing, continued violations subject the Namibian Defense Ministry to the mandatory asset freezes of NKSPEA section 104(a)(9).

The Namibian government clearly wants us to believe that it has terminated its relationships with North Korea. The speedy disappearance of the North Korean workers and its claims to CNN are unconvincing in this regard. They are also unconvincing to Hugh Griffiths of the U.N. Panel, who takes the extraordinary step of appearing in CNN’s broadcast to say so. U.N. sanctions don’t enforce themselves. It’s time for Namibia to come clean with the U.N. Panel, or to be made an example of.