Upcoming Presentation – 26 March 2026: “Novel Insights into Yugoslav Support of North Korea”

The Cold War Research Network is pleased to inform you on the upcoming presentation:

Throughout the 1970s, Yugoslavia and North Korea moved from the establishment of diplomatic relations to the development of close ties, with Belgrade facilitating Pyongyang’s entry into the Non-Aligned Movement. Yugoslavia went above and beyond in supporting North Korea’s efforts to unify the peninsula, even when doing so risked reputational costs internationally. This presentation sheds light on an unknown yet significant and controversial episode in their bilateral relations that provides a broader context for North Korea’s grooming of South Korean nationals as spies during the Cold War. Drawing on formerly classified party records from the Archives of Yugoslavia in Belgrade and materials from the Yugoslav secret police held at the State Archives in Zagreb, it analyzes the establishment of the DPRK Consulate General in Zagreb, the activities conducted from it, and the extent of Yugoslav involvement.

The event will take place in one of the buildings of Utrecht University. The specific location will specified later on. Register here! 

Speaker:

Jovana Bogojević, from Montenegro, holds doctoral degrees in Asian and African Studies from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and in Transcultural Studies from Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, jointly awarded for her dissertation “Encountering Cold War East Asia: Yugoslav Experiential Writings from the Long 1950s.” She was previously a Yenching Scholar at Peking University, spent most of her adult life in East Asia, and is a classically trained musician.