 | |
 North Korea |  Romania |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| DPRK Embassy, Bucharest | Embassy of Romania, Pyongyang |
| Envoy | |
| Kim Son Gyong | Ambassador Andy Avram, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. |
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Romania have maintained limited bilateral relations since the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. Relations between the two countries began on October 26, 1948, when Romania was part of the Eastern Bloc. Romania has an embassy in Pyongyang and North Korea has an embassy in Bucharest.
The Romanian People's Republic formally recognized the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on October 26, 1948 as the sole legitimate government of the entire Korean Peninsula. Both countries were allies during the Korean War in the early-1950s. [1] In the following years, the two countries had little contact. [2]
On June 15, 1971, the president of the newly renamed Socialist Republic of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu, visited North Korea. [3] [4] [5] [6] He took great interest in the idea of total national transformation as embodied in the programs of the Workers' Party of Korea. He was also inspired by the personality cult of Kim Il Sung. According to the British journalist Edward Behr, Ceaușescu admired Kim as a leader because he dominated his nation and broke free from Soviet control, combining totalitarian methods with ultra-nationalist and communist ideologies. [7] Behr wrote that the possibility for "vast Potemkin villages for the hoodwinking of gullible foreign guests" that Ceaușescu had seen in North Korea was something that never seemed to have crossed his mind before. [7]
Upon his return to Romania, Ceaușescu began to emulate North Korea's system, influenced by Kim's Juche philosophy. He issued the July Theses, a set of proposals that tightened government control over Romanian media, promoted nationalism, and intensified his personality cult. North Korean books on Juche were translated into Romanian and widely distributed inside the country. [8] The militaries of both countries began to co-operate on sensitive issues. [2] At the same time, Romania had a rapprochement with the United States. In 1973, North Korea tried to use Romania as an intermediary with the US, but the Romanian diplomats did not want to harm their developing relationship with the US. [2]
In 1978, Romanian painter Doina Bumbea was abducted by the North Korean government. This may have been with the intention of providing American defectors in the country with non-Korean wives to avoid the birth of ethnically mixed Koreans. [9] Romanian officials and governmental institutions have been left aware of Bumbea's case, but they have not given much importance to it. [10]
Relations between North Korea and Romania became strained after Romania's Communist government fell. Ceausescu's execution during the 1989 Romanian Revolution and the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in Romania rejecting socialist ideology, which is still promoted in the DPRK. Romania allied itself with nations hostile to the DPRK: it established relations with North Korea's rival the Republic of Korea (South Korea) on March 30, 1990, entered NATO in 2004, and joined the European Union in 2007. [11] However, it continues to maintain ties in the educational field. [2]
In 2016, the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry reacted to North Korea's hydrogen bomb test that occurred in January with a statement of concern that this test posed "... a challenge to peace and security in the region". [12]
In October 2021, Romania closed its embassy in North Korea, possibly only temporarily, as a result of the strict COVID-19 pandemic containment measures taken by the North Korean government that made the operation of the embassy and the entry and exit to the country highly complicated. Before this, Romania was the only country in the European Union to have a diplomatic embassy in North Korea. The embassy may not reopen due to high maintenance costs. [13]
The history of North Korea began with the end of World War II in 1945. The surrender of Japan led to the division of Korea at the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Union occupying the north, and the United States occupying the south. The Soviet Union and the United States failed to agree on a way to unify the country, and in 1948, they established two separate governments – the Soviet-aligned Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the American-aligned Republic of Korea – each claiming to be the legitimate government of all of Korea.
North Korea has diplomatic relations with 160 states. The country's foreign relations have been dominated by its conflict with South Korea and its historical ties to the Soviet Union. Both the government of North Korea and the government of South Korea claim to be the sole legitimate government of the whole of Korea. The de facto end of the Korean War left North Korea in a military confrontation with South Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last communist leader of Romania. He was also the country's head of state from 1967, serving as President of the State Council and from 1974 concurrently as President of the Republic, until his overthrow and execution in the Romanian Revolution in December 1989, part of a series of anti-Communist uprisings in Eastern Europe that year.
The Socialist Republic of Romania was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People's Republic. The country was an Eastern Bloc state and a member of the Warsaw Pact with a dominant role for the Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its constitutions. Geographically, RSR was bordered by the Black Sea to the east, the Soviet Union to the north and east, Hungary and Yugoslavia to the west, and Bulgaria to the south.
The Palace of the Parliament, also known as the Republic's House or People's House/People's Palace, is the seat of the Parliament of Romania, located atop Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, the national capital. The Palace reaches a height of 84 m (276 ft), has a floor area of 365,000 m2 (3,930,000 sq ft) and a volume of 2,550,000 m3 (90,000,000 cu ft). The Palace of the Parliament is the heaviest building in the world, weighing about 4,098,500,000 kilograms, also being the second largest administrative building in the world. (The Great Pyramid of Giza at about 5.75 million tons is about 40% heavier.) The building was designed and supervised by chief architect Anca Petrescu, with a team of approximately 700 architects, and constructed over a period of 13 years (1984–97) in Socialist realist and modernist Neoclassical architectural forms and styles, with socialist realism in mind. The Palace was ordered by Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989), the president of Communist Romania and the second of two long-ruling heads of state in the country since World War II, during a period in which the personality cult of political worship and adoration increased considerably for him and his family.
Silviu Brucan was a Romanian communist politician. He became a critic of the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. After the Romanian Revolution, Brucan became a political analyst.
The emblem of North Korea is a national symbol adopted in 1993 by the state. Its design is modified from the former version in use from the founding of North Korea in 1948. Prominent features on the emblem are a red star, a hydroelectric plant and Mount Paektu. The design bears similarities to the emblem of the Soviet Union and other emblems of the socialist heraldic style.
Systematization in Romania was a program of urban planning carried out by the Romanian Communist Party under the leadership of Nicolae Ceaușescu. Ceaușescu was impressed by the ideological mobilization and mass adulation of North Korea under its Juche ideology during his East Asia visit in 1971, and issued the July Theses shortly afterwards.
The July Theses is a name commonly given to a speech delivered by Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu on July 6, 1971, before the executive committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). Its full name was Propuneri de măsuri pentru îmbunătățirea activității politico-ideologice, de educare marxist-leninistă a membrilor de partid, a tuturor oamenilor muncii. This quasi-Maoist speech marked the beginning of a "mini cultural revolution" in the Socialist Republic of Romania, launching a Neo-Stalinist offensive against cultural autonomy, a return to the strict guidelines of socialist realism and attacks on non-compliant intellectuals. Strict ideological conformity in the humanities and social sciences was demanded. Competence and aesthetics were to be replaced by ideology; professionals were to be replaced by agitators; and culture was once again to become an instrument for communist propaganda.
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is the oldest active party in Korea. It also controls the Korean People's Army, North Korea's armed forces. The WPK is the largest party represented in the Supreme People's Assembly and coexists with two other legal parties making up the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea. However, these minor parties are completely subservient to the WPK and must accept the WPK's "leading role" as a condition of their existence. The WPK is banned in South Korea under the National Security Act and is sanctioned by the United Nations, the European Union, Australia, and the United States.
Kim Il Sung was a Korean politician and the founder of North Korea. He ruled the country from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. Afterwards, he was declared its eternal president. His birth name was Kim Song Ju (김성주).
Hungary–North Korea relations (Korean: 마쟈르-조선민주주의인민공화국 관계) are foreign relations between Hungary and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. Relations between the two countries existed since the Korean War, but however have evolved into conflicts.
Poland–North Korean relations are foreign relations between Poland and North Korea.
Iceland–North Korea relations refers to the current and historical relationship between Iceland and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. Neither nation maintains an embassy in their respective capitals. Instead, the Icelandic ambassador in Beijing is also accredited to North Korea, while the North Korean ambassador in Stockholm is accredited to Iceland. The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang handles visa matters on behalf of Iceland.
Equatorial Guinea–North Korea relations refers to the current and historical relationship between Equatorial Guinea and North Korea. While Equatorial Guinea has no representation in North Korea, it is one of few African states to have a North Korean embassy, located in the capital of Malabo.
Finland–North Korea relations are bilateral relations between Finland and North Korea.
Kim Il Sung was the founder and first leader of North Korea. According to North Korean sources, the country awarded him "the title of Hero of the DPRK three times, the title of Labour Hero of the DPRK, 26 orders and 3 medals". In addition, foreign countries and organizations conferred upon him 74 orders and 152 medals.
Nigeria maintains an embassy in Pyongyang and North Korea maintains an embassy in Lagos.
Doina Bumbea was a Romanian painter who was abducted to North Korea in 1978. Born in Bucharest, Bumbea left Romania in 1970 and went to Italy, where she studied fine arts and became a painter. There, she would be contacted by a certain individual who promised her a job as gallery curator in Japan if she gave an art exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea. Bumbea accepted and was taken there, but she would not be allowed to leave the country.
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