North Korea and Zimbabwe: A friendship explained

The Fifth Brigade of the Zimbabwean army, trained by North Korea, practice karate at Rufaro Stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe, in May 1984.

When former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was elected into power in 1980 following the country’s independence, military training from North Korea became more closely linked to its leadership. Mugabe agreed with then-North Korean leader Kim Il Sung that Pyongyang would train a wing of Zimbabwe’s army, known as the Fifth Brigade, which would be under the direct control of Mugabe himself as he sought to consolidate his power in the country.

“The Fifth Bridge had a reputation for ferocity,” Daragh Neville, an Africa-North Korea expert formerly of think tank Chatham House, told CNBC. It is considered responsible for a 1983 massacre in Matabeleland, a western region of Zimbabwe, in which up to 20,000 people were killed in violence along tribal lines.

“What happened in Matabeleland remains an extremely sensitive topic in Zimbabwe,” Neville said.