FILE: ANC president is seen on stage at the Nelson Mandela Stadium on 16 April 2016.ANC and SACP laud North Korea's re-election and defence of sovereignty. Photo: eNCA / Lenyaro Sello
JOHANNESBURG, - The African National Congress (ANC) and the SA Communist Party congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his re-election as the country's leader and urged his government to continue defending its sovereignty against efforts by the United States to undermine it.
They were speaking at a reception thrown by North Korea's ambassador Jo Yong Man in Johannesburg on Tuesday to celebrate the success of the ruling Worker's Party's recent 7th Congress where Kim was re-elected.
Their congratulations were offered at a time of rising tensions between Pyongyang on the one side and its neighbours South Korea and Japan and their ally, the US, on the other, over North Korea's growing nuclear weapons and missiles programme.
In January Pyongyang detonated another atomic weapon and launched a long-range missile soon after that. It has also recently launched ballistic missiles from submarines and from trucks.
These tests have raised concerns in Seoul,Tokyo and Washington about possible surprise attacks and it was disclosed this week that the three countries would next month conduct joint naval exercises off Hawaii to practice shooting down long-range ballistic missiles.
At Tuesday's reception in Johannesburg Ribbon Masholi, manager of the ANC's international relations department, commended Jo for his government's defence of its sovereignty against the US.
Joe Mpisi, ANC member of the Gauteng provincial legislature and chairperson of the Gauteng SACP, also congratulated Jo on Kim's re-election.
He said the SACP intended to launch a joint campaign with North Korea to oppose the international sanctions which have been imposed on the country because of its nuclear weapons programme.
Mpisi added that the global supremacy of the US was slowly ending in the face of rising forces of the Left like North Korea and the Brics bloc - comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Jo thanked the ANC and SACP for their support of North Korea's policies including its proposals for reunification with South Korea outlined at the Worker's Party congress.
Jo distributed a statement in which his government firmly rejected Seoul's position that peace moves between the two countries would be meaningless without denuclearisation.
The statement insisted that North Korea's "access to nukes has, in fact, nothing to do with the north-south relations." It added that Pyongyang's "status as a nuclear weapons state remains steadfast no matter who recognizes it or not."
The statement added that North Korea was fully ready for either peaceful or non-peaceful ways for reunification with South Korea.
- Africa News Agency
http://www.enca.com/south-africa/anc-and-sacp-applaud-n-korea-leader-on-his-re-election