Southern Africa: Revolutionary Comrades – Relations Between North Korea and Southern Africa

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Since the Cold War, competition between foreign powers for influence in Africa has spurred a great debate. With a focus on China, Russia, and the United States, the conversation about Africa’s ties to the world are predominantly focused on great power rivalry. However, this clichéd discourse obscures two significant dimensions: the rise of smaller powers, and African agency in international relations. My new book, Comrades Beyond the Cold War: North Korea and the Liberation of Southern Africa, sheds light on an important but overlooked aspect of history: the ways in African governments benefit from cooperation with North Korea.

I was blissfully unaware of North Korean influence in Africa until about ten years ago, when I stumbled upon a North Korean monument in Namibia by accident. I had arrived in Windhoek to study the history of beer brewing in Namibia and found myself admiring a newly opened history museum in the capital city. The socialist-realist architecture of the museum looked rather strange in the circumstances, and I was surprised to learn that a North Korean art studio not only designed the building; but also devised the historical exhibition. Moreover, this was not a Cold War relic, but brand new.

African history, told through North Korean visuals. I could not quite comprehend why North Korea would do business in Africa, as I knew the country as the infamous ‘hermit kingdom’: isolated and ostracized by the international community. Yet, the Namibian museum proved that there is more to this story. My encounter with the museum formed the starting point for a PhD project that uncovered a rich history of African-North Korean relations, which continues into the present. Despite the existence of United Nations sanctions, a wide range of African governments continue to engage with North Korea.

Based on novel African and Korean sources, Comrades Beyond the Cold War explains this phenomenon via three themes: blood, which symbolizes the diplomatic ties forged during the struggle for liberation, bullets, which symbolize the ensuing military cooperation, and bronze, which symbolizes the lucrative construction of cultural heritage.

Blood: diplomatic ties

At the end of the Korean war (1950-53), the two Koreas competed with each other for admission to the United Nations General Assembly as a full member. The divided peninsula looked towards the rapidly decolonizing African continent for support – new states meant the possibility of new allies. In Southern Africa, however, the struggle for independence was delayed by a coalition of white minority regimes, most notably the apartheid state in South Africa. Various African national liberation movements took up arms to fight for freedom and found an unexpected ally in North Korea.

At the time, North Korea was ruled by Kim Il Sung, who branded himself as a guerrilla fighter with anti-imperialist credentials. Kim invited a host of African leaders to Pyongyang to experience the wonders of his own revolution, and to help them achieve theirs. African leaders – several of whom would become presidents – often felt at ease in the company of their North Korean comrades. A fitting illustration is the visit of Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, who sang for Kim Il Sung during the latter’s birthday party in 1982. In turn, North Korea established dozens of so-called ‘Juche Study Centers’ in Africa, which distributed books, films, and exhibitions with North Korean propaganda.

Bullets: military cooperation

Once diplomatic relations were established, the next phase of exchanges could begin. Military cooperation became the core of African-North Korean interactions. Importantly, Kim not only focused on helping newly independent states, but also invested funds in the liberation movements that often fought protracted guerrilla wars from exile. African revolutionaries thus benefited from North Korean weapons and training. They were not necessarily interested in grand ideological discussions about communism but were often driven by a practical need for military aid.

When independence was established, relations with Pyongyang remained useful for African elites. Victorious liberation movements were transformed into ruling regimes and continued to rely on North Korea, as both parties established mutual trust. North Korea delivered presidential security and training opportunities for newly formed national armies. The most notorious example is the Fifth Brigade of Zimbabwe, which was trained and armed by around a hundred North Korean instructors in the 1980s. But this brigade was not the only example. Across Southern Africa, North Korea provided similar services to postcolonial regimes.

Bronze: cultural heritage

During the 1980s, partnerships between African elites and North Korea were fully blossoming. Military cooperation, development aid, and cultural exchanges resulted in political cooperation in multilateral fora, such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organization. These advances were halted by the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s, which plunged the North Korean economy into despair – outwardly, Kim branded himself as a safe alternative from the Communist Bloc, but North Korea had remained dependent on the Soviets.

Domestic changes in North Korea had major repercussions for their programmes in Africa. No longer could Kim Il Sung – or his son and successor, Kim Jong Un – spend money on translating speeches into Swahili or Afrikaans, or providing elaborate training programmes in the art of war. Suddenly, earning money became the primary objective. It turned out that art was a lucrative business model: African governments were interested in using heritage for regime consolidation, and they hired North Korean art studios to construct monuments that were similar to the ones they had seen in Pyongyang.

Cold War logic

Across the African continent, North Korean labourers have designed and built statues, cemeteries, palaces, and other types of buildings that celebrate African independence. Heritage turned out to be a profitable trade – even despite the UN sanctions that were first installed in 2006, and were meant to isolate North Korea on the international stage. North Korea is not a new player in the African continent. The explanation for ongoing activities in Africa can be found in a mutual history that dates back to the 1960s. In this way, North Korea turned soft power into hard foreign currency.

It is tempting to view the fraternal ties between African freedom fighters-turned-politicians and their North Korean comrades through a Cold War lens. Yet, in this case, ideological competition was not the main driver of events. The ongoing rivalry between major powers – China, the Soviet Union, and the United States – was subordinate to the desire for liberation. African governments preferred to cooperate with North Korea because it was a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, and Kim Il Sung established his own ideology so as to distinguish his rule from mainstream communism. In the first instance, African-North Korean cooperation was motivated by a mutual desire to reframe the global world order.

Today, however, existing forms of exchange are primarily informed by a need for survival. The construction of heritage, such as the history museum in Namibia, provides an opportunity for African governments to display a sense of nationalism that serves the incumbent leadership, while the export of labour generates much-needed cash for North Korea. As such, friendship between North Korea and various African partners continues beyond the Cold War and maintains relevance for the present.

Tycho van der Hoog is an Assistant Professor of International Security Studies at the Netherlands Defence Academy. Prior to that, he completed his PhD at the African Studies Centre of Leiden University. Comrades Beyond the Cold War: North Korea and the Liberation of Southern Africa is published in 2025 by Hurst and Oxford University Press.

By African Arguments