Foreign relations of North Korea

The foreign relations of North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) have been shaped by its conflict with South Korea and its historical ties with world Communism. Both the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the government of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) claim to be the government of the whole of Korea. The Korean War in the 1950s failed to resolve the issue, leaving North Korea locked in a military confrontation with South Korea and the United States Forces Korea across the Demilitarized Zone. At the start of the Cold War, North Korea only had diplomatic recognition by Communist countries. Over the following decades, it established relations with developing countries and joined the Non-Aligned Movement. When the Eastern Bloc collapsed in the years 1989–1991, North Korea made efforts to improve its diplomatic relations with developed capitalist countries. At the same time there were international efforts to resolve the confrontation on the Korean peninsula, especially when the North acquired nuclear weapons.