North Korea's Africa connections - CNN ;/* videodemanddust is a default feature of the injector */CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete('videodemanddust'); And the Namibia government likes to make those historic connections clear as well. "Namibia had a long history of collaboration with North Korea. At the time of our independence, North Korea was among countries that have supported our struggle," Nandi-Ndaitwah said. But times change. As the Soviet Union began to crumble, North Korea lost a key supporter and financier. That's when Pyongyang began to call upon its embassies abroad to step up their business operations, according to Baker. African connections became less ideological and more transactional. They needed money. "The stuff that we really think of today, particularly statues and infrastructure development, things like that, really are the last 10 or 20 years. They're very much post-Cold War elements of the relationship," Baker said. When it comes to unsavory dealings like weapons sales, North Korea can fill a void for regimes that the US, China or Europe won't deal with, Baker said. "There's always places for the North Koreans to move and play outside of the places the US can really hit heavy with sanctions," he said.
But the pressure is mounting. With Kim Jong Un marching steadily toward a nuclear tipped ICBM, the US, Japan, South Korea and others are increasingly trying to squeeze North Korea wherever they operate. Japan has recently frozen Namibia's assets for continuing to do business with North Korea. "It is self-evident. Stop the money and you will slow the programs," Griffiths said. There are circumstantial signs that that is happening. In Windhoek, the vast construction site of the new Ministry of Defense headquarters, built by North Koreans, is standing idle. The Mansudae industrial headquarters CNN visited outside Windhoek is also quiet. Nandi-Ndaitwah, Namibia's deputy prime minister said Namibia has invited the UN panel to come to investigate, but Griffiths and the UN panel want written proof and documentation from implicated countries in Africa, including Namibia. Otherwise, Griffiths says, the money could still be flowing to Kim Jong Un's regime.
"The panel has visited Namibia before and as they say, 'once fooled, twice shy.' We are not going back for some tourist visit. We need to see the evidence," he said.