
Statues and sculptures have quickly become one of North Korea's biggest exports with the country making millions of pounds every year by selling historic monuments to the likes of Africa.

In recent years, North Korea has carved out healthy business with its cultural trade, selling special artworks and commissioned pieces to a host of counties from Cambodia to Zimbabwe.

The country's Mansudae Art Studio, which was founded in 1959 in Pyongyang, is one of the largest art production centres in the world and by far the largest and most important of North Korea.

It has a workforce of more than 4,000 people, around 50 supply departments and is divided into 13 different creative groups – each producing works which range from oil paintings and bronze sculptures to ceramics, woodcuts, embroideries, murals and jewel paintings.

Pier Luigi Cecioni, an Italian who is the sole representative of the art factory, says: 'It's in the heart of Pyongyang, Mansudae is the name of the district. Actually, it's more of a campus than a factory, more of a studio, the biggest in the world.'

Recent works include a giant embroidery for fashion firm Benetton, while there are reports of two giant statues of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in storage waiting to commemorate his death.

In fact, it is giant bronze sculptures of leaders and dictators which have produced some of the biggest business for the country, with the Mansudae Overseas Projects - the international commercial division of the Mansudae Art Studio – overseeing the trade.

The construction firm has earned more than £112million designing monuments and memorials of a host of well-known figures including the likes of Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-il, Samora Machel, the first President of Mozambique and Laurent Kabila, the assassinated president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

North Korean residents bow their heads in respect as they stand in front of the giant 22-metre high bronze Kim Il Sung statue in Pyongyang. It forms part of the The Grand Monument collection on Mansu Hill (Mansudae) and was was constructed in April 1972

The Samora Machel Statue is a bronze sculpture located in the centre of Independence Square in Maputo, Mozambique. It depicts Samora Machel (1933-1986), the first President of Mozambique, and was designed and built in North Korea by the Mansudae Overseas Projects

The Statue of the Members of the Workers' Party of Korea is situated at the base of the Juche Tower. Juche is a blend of autarky, self-reliance, nationalism, traditionalism and Marxism-Leninism. The tower was designed by the Dear Leader himself and completed in 1982

The Three Dikgosi Monument is an 18 foot tall bronze sculpture located in the Central Business District of Gaborone, Botswana, which depicts three tribal chiefs: Khama III of the Bangwato, Sebele II of the Bakwena, and Bathoen I of the Bangwaketse. The three chiefs travelled to Britain in 1895 to ask permission for the country to remain under direct British rule, which it did until independence in the '60s

Heroes Acre at Windhoek, Namibia, in southwest Africa is a memorial to the heroes of the independence wars and an official war memorial of the Republic of Namibia. It was unveiled in August 2002 and operates for the purpose of 'foster(ing) a spirit of patriotism and nationalism, and to pass on the legacy to the future generations of Namibia'. It depicts an unknown soldier standing on a marble obelisk

Children are pictured looking at the 'African Renaissance Monument' in Dakar, Senegal, in April 2010. The controversial bronze work - which at 50 metres (164 feet) tall stands four metres taller higher the Statue of Liberty - depicts a couple rising from the mouth of a volcano

This photograph shows the statues of late leaders Kim Il-Sung (third from left) and Kim Jong-Il (third right) at Mangyongdae Revolutionary School in Pyongyang, North Korea. It was taken in February 2013 as the statues were unveiled on the birth anniversary of Kim Jong-Il

The Two Statues Of The Dear Leaders are seen in the Grand Monument of Mansu Hill, Pyongyang. The first statue was unveiled in 1972 to celebrate Kim Il-sung's 60th birthday. The statue of Kim Jong-il in his trademark parka was added in 2012 following the Dear Leader's death

A large bronze monument in honour of Kim Il Sung, the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, stands tall in Pyongyang (left). Right: A statue of King Béhanzin in Abomey, in the Zou Department of Benin, was among those designed by North Korea

Mansudae Art Studio in North Korea has more than 4,000 staff members working on bronze statues, murals, banners and artworks, while its international arm - Mansudae Overseas Projects - has made millions of pounds in recent years by providing bronze sculptures of leaders

Mansudae fountain-park in Pyongyang, North Korea, was opened in 1976 and is situated on Mansudae Hill. It has jets of water reaching up to 80 metres high and comprises of white statues of groups of women playing or dancing. It is surrounded by a host of other important important including the Mansudae Grand Monument, the Chollima Statue, Mansudae Assembly Hall and the Sungyong and Sugin Temples