1950년대 북한과 불가리아 문화교류의 단면 - 불가리아 정부보관 문서 해제를 통한 고찰

Abstract

North Korea desperately needed diplomatic relations with its allies to obtain political and economic support, therefore signed the armistice agreement. From September 1948 to July 1953, North Korea emphasized the policy of establishing diplomatic relations with socialist countries mainly centered on Soviet Union and China. It was the Soviet Union that led the socialist countries of the world, and North Korea was able to establish diplomatic relations with China and Eastern European countries influenced by the Soviet Union. On November 19, 1949, North Korea established official diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and focused on the unity of the two countries with the common idea of socialist ideology. The authors have gathered, released, and organized cultural materials and documents related to North Korea and Bulgaria from the archive of the Central National Archives in Sofia, Bulgaria. They have specifically examined and analyzed the cultural exchanges between the two countries in the 1950s. With its long history of art, Bulgaria was able to provide the culture and art of better quality in its interaction with North Korea. As North Korea was not yet modernized and was still impoverished, the cultural exchange was just some means to obtain foreign aid, rather than to fulfill a pure cultural exchange. With its cultural exchange with Bulgaria, North Korea was able to equip themselves with the knowledge and tools which assisted them to overcome the chaotic atmosphere of post-war, while strengthening their fundamental belief as a socialist country. The 1950s documents from the Central National Archives in Bulgaria prove that in addition to the cultural exchange, Bulgaria provided political assistance and support to North Korea, which reflected North Korea’s true intention in initiating the cultural exchange. In a narrow sense, North Korea would have used culture for reasons such as emotional betterment for people who had been afflicted by the war, but in a broader sense, to achieve mutual goals between two countries but also as a tool to draw up continuous support from Bulgaria and to fortify the national ideology of North Korea.