La Corea del Nord e il Movimento dei Non Allineati.Il non allineamento di Pyongyang fra pragmatismo e ideologia

North Korea’s admission into the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in August 1975, alongside the simultaneous rejection of South Korea’s application, represented one of the major successes of North Korean foreign policy during the Cold War and the result of a diplomatic action that grew significantly since the 1960s. The need to expand its foreign relations and avoid the risk of isolation, combined with the growing international competition with South Korea, underpinned this new diplomatic direction. In addition, some fundamental aspects of North Korean official ideology, the so-called Juche, aligned closely with the principles of non-alignment, such as anti-imperialism and respect for national sovereignty. These were the main reasons that pushed North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, and the country’s regime, towards the Movement. Starting from the analysis of these motivations, based on a series of assessments on the country’s interests and the need to diversify its relations beyond the communist bloc, this article analyses the development and the evolution of the role of North Korea within the Non-Aligned Movement, from its accession in 1975 until the decline in the early 1980s. The difficulties North Korea faced in effectively operating within the organization became apparent almost immediately; however, if in the first phase (1975-1979) Pyongyang managed to achieve important results, in the second phase (from 1980) the decline of its role became evident and it gradually slipped into irrelevance, leaving space for the return of South Korea and its successful economic model in the international inter-Korean competition.