Internationalist Culture in North Korea, 1945-1950

In the period from 1945-1950, North Korean elites were indeed oriented toward the Soviet Union, but they also followed developments in Asia with a sophistication that is too rarely acknowledged in histories. This article uses North Korean foreign affairs publications, political cartoons, and captured government documents from the Korean War to argue that during the "liberation" period prior to June 25, 1950, the North Korean people were attuned to world politics and developments in Northeast Asia in particular. Case studies are made of North Korean perceptions of U.S.-occupied Japan and the Chinese civil war. The paper is intended to clear the way for more objective discussion of the historical stereotype of the DPRK as a state perpetually mired in isolation.