Zimbabwe’s leader Robert Mugabe has been making headlines recently in regards to his attempts to rig his nation’s election to keep him in power.  However as people criticize his recent actions, many people have forgotten how he came to power in the first place; through help from the North Koreans. 

Mugabe had been jailed for 10 years by the white minority government in Zimbabwe for his anti-government activities.  When Mugabe was released in 1974 he was elected as President of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).  ZANU was one of two main opposition groups that were fighting against white minority rule in Zimbabwe which was then called Rhodesia.  The white minority rule was a legacy of British colonialism that the black opposition groups were trying to end.  Prison had radicalized Mugabe who after being elected as the President of ZANU fled to Mozambique to lead his opposition group that was based out of the adjacent country that was friendly to their cause.

ZANU flag

The other main opposition group besides ZANU that was fighting for the end of white minority rule in Rhodesia was the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU).  The two opposition groups were backed by different communist sponsors.  ZAPU was backed by the Soviet Union while ZANU was backed by the People’s Republic of China.  Though China backed the ZANU they could not openly support the ZANU with soldiers because in the 1970’s China was attempting to open up to the west in particular the United States.  China helped finance ZANU but asked North Korea to assist the ZANU with military training as to not involve their military in the conflict in Africa.  At the request of the Chinese, North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung decided to aid his blood ally from the Korean War. 

North Korea opened a ZANU explosives training facility 15 kilometers outside the North Korean capitol of Pyongyang.  Likewise they deployed special forces trainers to assist the ZANU in Mozambique.  The ZANU forces would often launch guerrilla attacks from Mozambique into Rhodesia before fleeing back across the border.  Popular targets were bombing train tracks, ambushing convoys, and raiding white owned farms.  This time of conflict against white minority rule became known as The Bush War. 

The war ended in 1979 with the British brokered Lancaster House Agreement that ended white minority rule in Rhodesia.  In 1980 Robert Mugabe was elected Prime Minister of the now newly named country of Zimbabwe.  However, peace would not come to Zimbabwe with the end of white minority rule.  Robert Mugabe’s exposure to the North Koreans had exposed him to North Korea’s dictator Kim Il-sung’s "juche" philosophy and one party rule.  Mugabe hoped to bring such a philosophy and one party rule to Zimbabwe. 

Shortly after taking power Mugabe signed an agreement with Kim Il-sung that would allow North Korean military trainers to specially train one brigade of Zimbabwe soldiers.  In August 1981, hundreds North Korean trainers arrived in Zimbabwe and began the training and equipping of the 3,500 soldier Zimbabwean Fifth Brigade.  The brigade’s training included much more then tactical training.  The core of the brigade’s training centered around North Korean style political indoctrination to ensure loyalty to only Robert Mugabe.  As the brigade became operational they became recognizable from the rest of the Zimbabwean military because they wore red berets and drove Chinese vehicles unique to the unit. 

Soldiers of the Fifth brigade march in 1992.

Mugabe sensed that the biggest threat to his control of Zimbabwe would not come from the white minority Rhodesians that remained in the country but rather from his one time allies against white minority rule the ZAPU party.  With the training of the Fifth Brigade complete in September 1982 Mugabe put them to work repressing members of the ZAPU party.  The base of support for the ZAPU party came from the provinces of Matabeleland.  A campaign of torture and murder was unleashed by Mugabe on the people of Matabeleland.  Mugabe had a larger goal in mind then just simply killing and terrorizing the people of Matabeleland, he wanted to indoctrinate them as well.

While being simultaneously being tortured villagers had to sing pro-Mugabe propaganda songs.  The villagers were also forced to participate in the execution of family members.  The techniques of torture, humiliation, and implication were all mastered by the North Koreans as tools of indoctrination that were even successful in the brainwashing of American POWs during the Korean War.  These techniques would go on to brainwash the entire nation of North Korea and Robert Mugabe was hoping to do the same thing in Zimbabwe in order to establish one party rule and cement his hold on power.  This campaign of terror in Zimbabwe became known as the Gukurahundi and it is estimated that at least 20,000 people died during this terror campaign. 

Victims of the Gukurahundi campaign in Zimbabwe

When Mugabe traveled to Pyongyang for the first time to meet with Kim Il-sung he was deeply impressed with the indoctrination of the North Korean people that led to stadiums filled with hundreds of thousands of cheering citizens as well as the many state monuments in North Korea. 

Robert Mugabe meets with Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang.

Mugabe wanted to create the same devotion to him in Zimbabwe that Kim Il-sung created in North Korea.  In order to do this Mugabe needed to create an information blockade into the country similar to what Kim Il-sung had done with North Korean.  By blockading outside information state sponsored propaganda is much more effective.  Over the years Mugabe has kicked out foreign journalists and has done what he can to limit outside information.  However, unlike North Korea Zimbabwe is bordered by many countries thus making it harder to keep outside information out. 

Along with his information blockade operations Mugabe began the construction of large memorials that citizens would be forced to conduct pilgrimages to.  The first large scale memorial Mugabe constructed was the 140 acre Heroes Acre in the capitol Harare that commemorates heroes of the war against white minority rule:

National Heroes Acre

The monument was constructed according to Marxist-Leninist design and obviously inspired by the Juche Tower in North Korea:

Juche Tower in Pyongyang

Mugabe was such a believer of Juche that books about Juche philosophy could be found in Mugabe’s office.  However, Robert Mugabe’s attempts at creating Juche self reliance was just as much of a fraud as Kim Il-sung’s claims to the self reliance of North Korea.  The truth is that North Korea was heavily depended on Soviet financial assistance which stopped with the ending of the Cold War.  The stopping of this financial assistance would lead to a massive famine in North Korea that caused the deaths of up to 2 million people by some estimates.  Likewise Mugabe’s economic policies and forced removal of white Rhodesians from their farms led to famine in Zimbabwe which for decades was thought of as the bread basket of Africa. 

To this day these two nations’ economies are collapsed and dependent on outside humanitarian aid to feed their people while their rulers maintain a tenuous but yet firm grip on power.  Hopefully one day these two countries will experience more shared history with the collapse of their repressive regimes. 

Further Reading:
Pyongyang’s Man in Harare

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