The Great Depression - A History of North Korea

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In the 19 seventies, around the same time mandume mashiqua was training in the north korean military camp, the studio decided to expand its work into other parts of the world. It founded a division called monsude overseas projects. They would also be designing monuments and memorials for their allies when they achieved liberation. This monument diplomacy was well received, especially because it was subsidized from start to finish by the north k Korean government. But just as north korea's statue exports were picking up, its fortunes as a country were plummeting. The soviet union fell and the cold war ended. And in the process, north k Korea lost its main sponsor and supporter.

In downtown Windhoek, Namibia -- at the intersection of Fidel Castro Street and Robert Mugabe Avenue -- there's an imposing gold building with an affectionate nickname: the Coffee Maker. This notable structure was built to commemorate Namibia’s fight for independence from apartheid South Africa, which it achieved in 1990. And for many of the visitors, the museum feels like a huge achievement. But for a museum that commemorates throwing off the chains of colonialism and forging a new era of self-determination, it has one pretty strange feature. It wasn't designed by a Namibian architect. It wasn't even designed by an African architect. It was built by North Korea's state-run design studio, which has long been a prolific maker of statues around the world. North Korea has left a distinct visual stamp across Africa in particular, with museums and monuments erected in more than a dozen African countries since the 1970s.

Monumental Diplomacy