40 years have passed since Sam Nujoma, first President of the Republic of Namibia and former President of the South-West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) made his 4 th visit to Pyongyang.

On this meaningful occasion, we are looking back on the history of friendship between the DPRK and Namibia forged and developed under great attention of the preceding leaders.

In the 1960s, the Namibian people waged an armed struggle against South African colonialists. They were fighting an uphill battle to achieve national liberation and independence of the country while overcoming the manifold difficulties.

President Kim Il Sung , who kept on paying great attention to the Namibian people in their national liberation struggle, met with Sam Nujoma who was on a visit to our country in January 1983. At that time, he hoped to see the Namibian people emerge victorious in the struggle against the imperialists and racists, and expressed full support and solidarity to their armed struggle. He also gave unstinting material support to them.

Even after that, President Kim Il Sung granted an audience to Sam Nujoma who made visits to our country on several occasions including March 1985 and June 1986. President Kim Il Sung told him that the Namibian people’s cause of national liberation is a common cause against imperialism and gave invariable support and encouragement to their struggle.

That is why Sam Nujoma, who visited our country in the capacity of the President of the Republic of Namibia in September 1992 after gaining independence from South Africa, conferred the highest Order of Namibia on President Kim Il Sung carrying a boundless feeling of respect and reverence towards him, as a token of appreciation of the DPRK’s support and encouragement which played a decisive role in the Namibian people’s struggle for independence.

The friendship of the two countries has been invariably consolidated and developed in the new century. Particularly, the Presidential Palace, Independence Memorial, Cemetery of Namibian Heroes and other distinctive monumental edifices built in Namibia in cooperation with our country’s specialists are as ever shining as a good symbol of friendship between the two countries.

In December 2008, the “International Kim Il Sung Prize” was awarded on Sam Nujoma who distinguished himself in the cause of achieving global independence and modelling the whole world on the Juche idea.

It is the consistent stand of the DPRK to invariably cherish the friendly relations with Namibia, an outcome of continuous development through generations and centuries, and strengthen and improve it in various fields.

The friendly relations between the two countries, which were forged by the preceding leaders, will continue to develop further under the joint efforts of the peoples of the two countries.

Song Se Il

President of Korea-Africa Association