Microphone Revolution : North Korean Cultural Diplomacy During the Liberation of Southern Africa

North Korea is an overlooked actor in studies of Afro-Asian solidarity or the Cold War, even though it developed an independent foreign policy and managed to forge connections to African liberation movements. This book chapter by Tycho van der Hoog explores North Korea’s cultural diplomacy during the liberation of southern Africa through the establishment of Juche Study Centers. Juche, the official ideology of North Korea, was marketed in Africa through public meetings at Juche Study Centers, the distribution of translated literature, film viewings, and travel opportunities to Pyongyang. Juche was a vague philosophy that resonated with African views of post-colonial nation-building. Today, few people take Juche seriously but the fraternal ties between North Korea and African political regimes have withstood the test of time.

 

 

 

This book chapter appeared in Stolte, Carolien & Lewis, Su Lin (2022). 'The Lives of Cold War Afro-Asianism'. Leiden: Leiden University Press.