Mansudae Overseas Projects

Mansudae Overseas Projects
Hangul
만수대해외개발회사
Hanja
萬壽臺海外開發會社
Lit.Mansudae Overseas Development Company
RRMansudae haeoe gaebalhoesa
MRMansudae haeoe kaebarhoesa

Mansudae Overseas Projects (Korean: 만수대해외개발회사) is a construction company based in Jongphyong-dong, Phyongchon District, Pyongyang, North Korea.[1][2] It is the international commercial division of the Mansudae Art Studio. As of August 2011, it had earned an estimated US$160 million overseas building monuments and memorials. As of 2015, Mansudae projects have been built in 17 countries: Angola, Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Cambodia, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Germany, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Togo and Zimbabwe. The company uses North Korean artists, engineers, and construction workers rather than those of the local artists and workers. Sculptures, monuments, and buildings are in the style of North Korean socialist realism.[3][4][5][6]

Notable works

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The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal

Mansudae Overseas Projects is responsible for various monuments across Africa. They constructed the President Agostinho Neto Cultural Centre in Luanda, Angola,[7][8][9] a statue of Béhanzin in Benin,[10][9] the Three Dikgosi Monument in Botswana,[10][9] a statue of Laurent-Désiré Kabila in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[10][9] the Tiglachin Monument in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,[9][11] the Samora Machel Statue in Maputo, Mozambique,[9][12] and four public works in Namibia: the Heroes' Acre (inaugurated August 2002), the Okahandja Military Museum (inaugurated 2004), the State House of Namibia (inaugurated 2008), and the Independence Memorial Museum (inaugurated 2014).[3]

In Senegal, the company built the African Renaissance Monument.[10][9] Mansudae Overseas Project also constructed the National Heroes' Acre in Zimbabwe,[9] which closely mirrors the design of the Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery in Taesong-guyŏk.[3] Also in ZImbabwe, the statue of Joshua Nkomo was constructed by the company.[9]

In Cambodia, the Angkor Panorama Museum was built next to the temples of Angkor. The museum was operated jointly by APSARA and Mansudae, with about half of 40 staff members being from North Korea.[13] In 2020, the museum was closed indefinitely due to international sanctions.[14]

Mansudae also worked on the reconstruction of the Fairy Tale Fountain [de] in Frankfurt, Germany, an art nouveau relic from 1910 that had been melted down for its metal during World War II. Germany is the only western nation to have a North Korean-built structure.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Dannatt, Adrian (April 22, 2009). "Art in the DPRK". North Korea Economy Watch. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies". Naenara. Archived from the original on 2005-02-13. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  3. ^ a b c Kirkwood, Meghan L. E. (2013). "Postindependence Architecture through North Korean Modes: Namibian Commissions of the Mansudae Overseas Project". A companion to modern African Art. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 9781444338379.
  4. ^ Winn, Patrick (August 3, 2011). "North Korea propaganda unit builds monuments abroad". Global Post. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  5. ^ Baecker, Angie (2011). "Hollow Monuments". Art Asia Pacific (72). Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  6. ^ "All Official Portraiture of North Korea's Reigning Kim Family Is Made By Mansudae Art Studio". Colors (87). 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
  7. ^ "Agostinho Neto Mausoleum". The Angolan Market. May 28, 2011. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  8. ^ "Kim Yong Nam Visits Angolan Cultural Center under Construction". Korean Central News Agency. March 25, 2008. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i "North Korea builds monuments around the world". CBS News. 2018-11-16. Archived from the original on 2025-06-25. Retrieved 2025-06-28.
  10. ^ a b c d Niang, Amy. "African Renaissance, reloaded: the old man, the behemoth and the impossible legacy". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  11. ^ Pearson, James (2016-12-01). "U.N. decapitates North Korea's statue export business". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2023-01-13. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  12. ^ "All Official Portraiture of North Korea's Reigning Kim Family Is Made by Mansudae Art Studio". Catena di Villorba (TV), Italy: COLORS Magazine. 2015. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  13. ^ Mäkeläinen, Mika (2 April 2016). "Pohjois-Korean tuorein tulonlähde – taidekauppaa Angkorin raunioilla". YLE (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  14. ^ Ahn, Sung-mi (2020-01-05). "NK museum in Cambodia closes as workers repatriated". The Korea Herald. Archived from the original on 2021-10-20. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  15. ^ Winter, Caroline (6 June 2013). "Mansudae Art Studio, North Korea's Colossal Monument Factory". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2019-04-13. Retrieved 2016-03-18.

Further reading

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  • Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. 2013. OCLC 913431031.
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