Pretoria and Pyanong: Supping with Sinners

In 1998 South Africa formally recognized North Korea’s statehood and the two countries entered into diplomatic relations. But what could South Africa hope to gain from the strengthening of bilateral relations with a country that has repeatedly transgressed international standards of acceptable conduct? The author discusses North Korea’s behaviour in terms of, amongst others, the pursuit of nuclear weapons, the undemocratic nature of its political system, and its involvement in terrorism abroad. The author concludes that there is presumably some scope for expanding trade ties with North Korea, and mutual diplomatic relations may be useful in this regard. An exchange of top-level visits is, however, undesirable at this stage. Ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]