The Half-Life of Sovereignty: North Korea and Solidarity Movements of the Decolonizing World, 1959-1976

This dissertation examines the political history of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea, DPRK) as conveyed through the state's interrelated efforts in cultural production and diplomacy in the Cold War. Through overlapping artistic, rhetorical, and diplomatic overtures, North Korean emissaries contributed to a transnational network of information dissemination while seeking to impact global perceptions of a divided, developing Korean Peninsula. Exploring the history of media forms related to the division of the Korean Peninsula and their circulation throughout the global South, the project draws upon Korean, Spanish, and English-language sources to center the scattered trove of material-cultural artifacts that frame Korea's process of decolonization.