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Defying United Nations Sanctions: Three Reasons for African Engagement with North Korea
The United Nations (UN) sanctions against North Korea are weakened by structural evasion techniques and weak enforcement. The African continent is a crucial node in the global illicit networks of North Korea. This paper by Tycho van der Hoog examines three motives for African states to cooperate with North Korea, with a particular focus on the context of southern Africa: historical affinity (reciprocity), the practical issue of maintenance dependency (necessity), and the presence of weak enforcement regimes (opportunity). Based on a deep reading of UN Panel of Experts reports, academic literature and policy papers, novel archival material, and an interview with a defected North Korean diplomat, this paper argues that solutions to strengthen the sanctions regime can be successful only if they are grounded in African initiatives.
This article appeared in Korea Economic Institute of America, Academic Paper Series (2022).
Date, time and location
16 June 2022
About the author(s) / editor(s)
Tycho van der Hoog is a PhD candidate at the African Studies Centre Leiden. His PhD project, tentatively titled ‘Blood, Bullets, and Bronze: The Relations Between North Korean and Southern Africa, 1960-2020’ seeks to reveal the ties that bind North Korea to the African continent. His monograph Monuments of Power: The North Korean Origin of Nationalist Monuments in Namibia and Zimbabwe was published by the African Studies Centre Leiden in 2019.
Posted on 27 June 2022, last modified on 15 July 2022