The Diplomatic Rivalry Between North and South Korea in the NAM During the 1970s: From Rejection to Compromise

Both South and North Korea, whose primary diplomatic goals were once centered on deterring and excluding one another, struggled fiercely to secure more supporters within the Non-Aligned Movement during the 1970s. During this process, North Korea succeeded in establishing its status within the movement by turning Korean Peninsula issues into international talking points. Although South Korea's approach was largely reactive, it managed to build its own diplomatic resilience by persuading many Non-Aligned member states while simultaneously working to keep North Korea in check. Both South and North Korea have constantly revised their strategies to respond to changing circumstances. Since the mid-1970s, North Korea’s pragmatic adjustments to its on-Aligned Movement policy, coupled with South Korea’s flexible response, allowed both sides to expand their diplomatic reach. Consequently, their diplomacy within the Non-Aligned Movement began to shift away from a zero-sum competition over systems and ideologies toward a more nuanced approach of managing and coordinating influence and compromise within the multilateral international arena.