rid himself of the North Korean connection, reportedly selling his share in Sangwon a year later to Swiss construction firm, LafargeHolcim.

It's all about the missiles

Naguib Sawiris became the face of Egyptian-North Korean relations. The large shares he held in major industries within the communist nation earned him great attention - but his business ventures were never as revolutionary as they seemed.

Naguib Sawiris became the single largest individual investor in North Korea

Naguib's stake in Koryolink may have been substantial but steadily proved useless - North Korean authorities refused to allow Sawiris to transfer any of his profits out of their economy.



The establishment not only forced him to hold his earnings in cash but also imposed a much lower black market currency exchange rate. By 2015, Orascom was left nochoice but to disinvest from Koryolink despite technically still holding the major share - effectively handing it over to communist control.



A year later, Sawiris conformed to international norms and ended his business ventures with the embargoed nation, closing Orabank in December 2016.

Yet Egypt remains one of North Korea's main trade partners.

The Cold War endures

Sawiris did not share the spotlight with the essential player in the Egyptian-North Korean relationship - the military, who were all too happy to stay out of the limelight.

The Egyptian military is the largest in the Middle East and its historic ties with the former Soviet Union nations have continued to prove a technical challenge, as it is estimated that 40 percent of Egypt's arsenal has Soviet and Russian origins.

This suggests that military collaboration between