As Preparation for the Korea-Africa summit scheduled to take place in Seoul in the month of June, 2024 gathers momentum, officials from the diplomatic mission of African countries in Korea and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have continued their consultative meetings.

With South Korea already trading partners with top countries like the US, China, Japan, Vietnam, Turkey, India, New Zealand, Peru, the European Union, they now seek to add African countries as trading allies for mutual benefits which is the essence of the Korea-Africa summit.

As explained by the Korean ambassador Dong-han Yang, during his meeting with African ambassadors, the summit will provide an opportunity to form future-oriented partnership with their African counterparts.

Also, to be able to share development experiences with their partners in Africa so that the dynamism of the African countries can revitalise the growth of participating countries.
The theme of the summit: ‘The Future We Make Together: Shared Growth,Sustainability, and Solidarity’ is to discuss, amongst other things, a roadmap for strategic cooperations between South Korea and African countries.
The prioritised collaboration areas expected also include addressing global challenges, sustainable energy, and infrastructure. Others are the development of human resources, including TVET; science, technology, and digital transformation, promoting people to people exchange, and achieving peace and security.
During the summit, South Korea will be launching Official Negotiations for the first ever Free Trade Association, FTA with African countries, because, currently, out of its 21 FTAs with 27 countries, none is with African countries.

The Korea-Africa summit holding in June 2024, is expected to reverse the current status, where Africa constitutes only one percent of Korean trade with the rest of the world, and it will also enable African countries to export produce directly to Korea instead of going via other countries,such as Vietnam,China, and India.

The gains of the Korea-Africa summit shall see several countries, including the President Tinubu led FG, tap into the trading and investment values running into billions of dollars. The Korea-Africa summit shall also provide opportunities for sideline meetings just like the G20 summit held in Delhi, a summit where the African Union was confered with a permanent member title, where President Tinubu was able to meet with leaders of the US, Germany and even South Korea.

A North Korean defector who fled the country when he was 17, Ilhyeok Kim
has knocked China after reports emerged that the Chinese government allegedly willy-nilly returned more than 500 North Korean defectors.
Speaking at the United Nations Security Council meeting held in August, Kim
alleged that defectors sent back to North Korea were made to suffer series of punishments including forced labor, imprisonment, torture, or execution.

In a brief chat with newsmen to commemorate the Korea National Day Reception held in Abuja on November 2, the North Korean defector who currently resides in South Korea called on the Republic of China to uphold its obligations as a permanent member of the United Nations.

According to him, China subscribed to the 1982 Refugee Convention which prohibits the expulsion or return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom may be threatened. Moreover, Kim said that China also signed the 1988 Convention Against Torture banning expulsion and return to countries where there is a risk of torture.

Emphasis on the fact that North Korean defectors are recognized as refugees under these international law was made by Kim, he however expressed dismayed that the Chinese government refused to acknowledge them as such which he claimed is obviously in violation of international law.
When deported, Kim disclosed that defectors are often subjected to forced labour in re-education camps or correctional facilities, where they barely survive while enduring harsh treatments.

“In many cases, they are taken to political prisoner camps and never get to see the outside world again, even until death. Even worse, some might face public executions by way of exemplary punishment to the public. One of the serious offenses in North Korea is called a “betrayal of the party and the homeland” which can lead to a public execution, serving as violent means by the party to force loyalty to the regime”, he added.

The Alleged Forced Repatriation is in contrast to the Mutual aid and cooperation treaty which the China Authority ratified with North Korea since 1961, Kim noted further.

In Spite of international condemnation, Kim lamented that the China Government has continued to ignore the human rights agreement it signed.

Kim called on the South Korean government and international community;

“The remaining 2,000 or so North Korean refugees who are at imminent risk of forced repatriation by the Chinese regime should be allowed to reach any places on their own will. The approximately 600 defectors who have already been repatriated likely face severe realities.

“The South Korean government and the international community must collaborate to ensure that the remaining North Korean defectors in China can find freedom. If we do not make efforts and simply stand by, many innocent people will die while gazing at the same sky we see. North Korean refugees can live one more ordinary day like.

By Obabueki Victor Nosakhare

The 2022 U.S.- Africa Summit has come and gone but the key benefits for the African continent will continue to speak for years to come.

The three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit which held between December 13-15 had President Biden inviting 49 African heads of state and the head of the African Union to Washington, D.C.

The most important goal of the historic summit was to build and expand vital political, economic, and strategic partnerships, as well as people-to-people dialogue, based on mutual interests and shared priorities in Africa.

The summit’s agenda included increasing sustainable food production, strengthening health systems, providing humanitarian assistance, responding to the climate crisis, reinforcing democracy and human rights, boosting U.S.-African trade, advancing peace and security, and even enhancing space research and cooperation.

President Biden believed that U.S. collaboration with African leaders, as well as civil society, business, diaspora, women, and youth leaders, is essential to addressing these shared challenges.

According to U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard, the summit presented opportunities to deepen U.S.-Nigeria bilateral ties on multiple levels.

In the build up to the summit, Leonard said: “We look forward not only to the Nigerian government’s robust participation in the summit, but also to hearing the views of all stakeholders in Nigeria’s promising future, including independent voices from the private sector, civil society, young people, women, and all those who are working to build a strong and inclusive democracy.”

Among other benefits, the summit was also an opportunity for the United States and the American people to reiterate their profound and enduring interest in engaging with Africa as a whole.

As Secretary of State Blinken noted during his trips to Nigeria last year and to other countries in the region earlier last year, Africa’s demographic growth and economic potential will shape not just the future of its people, it will also shape the world.

The African continent will hope to recant the testimonies of the benefits of resolutions and agreements reached in this unique summit when these leaders gather together in 2023.