Its a better rifle than an AK.
It looks like an AK, to the untrained eye. But it is such a superior gun. It is striker fired, the bolt holds open (which to me is a big deal, its kind of the American feature) and It can actually be loaded with stripper clips directly into the magazine. There is also a thumb selector as opposed to that big safety bar on the AK.
It also features a real magazine release button, not just the lock. It has been around since 1958 and is still in use by the Czech forces. The Vietnamese Special Forces also had a number of them during the boarder war with China and prefered it over the AK.
VZ58 > AK