Guinea-Bissau–North Korea relations

Bissau-Guinean-North Korean relations

Guinea-Bissau	North Korea

Guinea-Bissau–North Korea relations refers to the current and historical relationship between Guinea-Bissau and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. Neither country maintains an embassy in their respective capitals.

History

During the Cold War, North Korea – like many other states aligned with the Soviet Union, or in general opposition to colonialism – provided significant military, political and diplomatic aid to the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, the movement fighting Portugal in the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. Following independence, Guinea-Bissau subsequently established diplomatic relations with North Korea on 16 March 1974. Formerly, North Korea maintained an embassy in Bissau.

In 1977, a few years prior to being overthrown, Guinea-Bissau's first independent leader – President Luís Cabral – visited Pyongyang, meeting Kim Il-sung together with his wife. His half-brother, Amílcar Cabral, had previously visited the country in the early 1970s. A decade later on his 70th birthday, in 1982, Kim Il-sung was awarded the Amílcar Cabral Order by the Bissau-Guinean government.

See also

• Foreign relations of Guinea-Bissau
• Foreign relations of North Korea