Tycho van der Hoog in North Korea News podcast: North Korea’s forgotten allies in Africa

Tycho van der Hoog joins the NK News podcast to explore how North Korea forged and sustained ties with African liberation movements and governments during and after the Cold War — connections that continue to shape the country’s activities on the continent today. This research was the basis of Van der Hoog's PhD dissertation.

He shares how his interest in the topic began with a trip to Namibia, where he encountered North Korean-built monuments. He also talks about his years of archival research and fieldwork across Southern Africa and the role of cultural and ideological exchange, including how North Korea used Juche ideology and its own unique aesthetics to build loyalty.

The podcast can be listened to here.

Tycho van der Hoog is a former PhD candidate at the African Studies Centre Leiden. He successfully defended his dissertation ‘North Korea and the Liberation of Southern Africa, 1960-2020’ on 7 May 2024.