1950년대 중후반 남·북한의 ‘중립국’ 외교의 전개와 성격: 동남아시아·중동·아프리카 지역을 중심으로

Abstract

This research is a study on the diplomacy of South and North Korea towards ‘neutral countries’ during 1950’s. The findings of this research can be summarized as follows. From 1954, the Third Forces emerged, advocating anti-colonialism, peace and neutralism, and refusing to belong to the two camps of the Cold War. In 1957, North Korea entered into trade agreements with major Asian and African neutral countries (India, Indonesia, Burma, Egypt, Iraq, etc.). By contrast, the South Korean government was busy criticizing neutral countries that were leading neutralism and peace movement, because it regarded neutralism and peace movement that arose from 1954 as offensives by the communist camp. The South Korean government, however, had to face a considerable drop in the percentage of votes in its favor in the 1957 UN General Assembly vote on the Korea issue. Many of the abstentions were caused by the so-called new independent nations entering the United Nations, claiming ‘neutralism.’ As a result, the South Korean government sent the first friendly delegation to Asia and Africa to resolve the voting ‘crisis’ on the Korea issue at the UN General Assembly. In this way, the South Korean government was passive in its diplomacy towards neutral countries, acting under pressure from the UN diplomatic crisis.