According to the Choson Ilbo:
Christian Dietrich, a member of the UN Security Council committee investigating Congo, told VOA that the North Korean ship Birobong arrived in the port of Boma, Congo on Jan. 21, where it unloaded some 3,400 tons of weapons, 100 times the amount seized in Thailand earlier this month.
Dietrich said the committee was told the weapons were “modern” but was unable to find out any details. Assuming all the weapons were AK rifles, the weight would be equivalent to about 800,000 of them, he added.
North Korea in May also sent military instructors to train Congolese government soldiers for about four weeks, around the time the North conducted its second nuclear test.
Dietrich said there are indications that North Korea was the source of state-of-the-art weapons carried by insurgents in eastern Congo. In some cases, Congolese government soldiers have sold their arms to neighboring countries such as Zimbabwe, he said.
Under UN Resolution 1807, adopted in 2008, the UN must be informed in advance of all arms transactions with and military training for Congo, but North Korea did not. The UNSC committee is a watchdog that oversees implementation of the UN resolution.
Additional information:
1. Here is a link to the story about the arms intercepted in Thailand (Including updates).
2. The DPRK has long been involved in African political, economic, military, and cultural affairs. When I read this story I immediately thought of Zimbabwe’s 5 Brigade which was trained by the North Koreans. Here are a few stories which are related to the DPRK and Zimbabwe.
3. The North Koreans also constructed the statue of Laurent Kabila in Kinshasa. The statue is located here.
