North Korea's diplomacy toward the Third World began in the mid-1950s, with the emergence of Third World countries as international political powers following the Bandung Conference. The rise of Third World countries signaled a rift and shift in the existing Cold War dynamics of the world order, centered around the First and Second Worlds. Against this backdrop, North Korea established diplomatic relations with Third World countries through exchanges of diplomatic delegations in various fields, including politics, economy, society, and culture, and concluded agreements. North Korea sought to enhance its status on the international diplomatic stage through diplomacy with Third World countries. The Third World also appears to have had a significant influence on North Korea's “independent line” of diplomacy established in the 1960s. While this “independent line” is generally believed to have been formed against the backdrop of internal conflicts within the socialist bloc, such as the Soviet Union and China's interference in North Korea's internal affairs and the Sino-Soviet conflict, the emergence of the Third World and diplomatic relations with these countries also played a significant role. On the other hand, North Korea's Third World diplomacy and “independence” policy can be interpreted as a weak nation's resistance to the great power-centric world order, while also reflecting the divisions and rifts within the socialist bloc, a key axis of the Cold War. North Korea's “independence” policy, a weak socialist nation, resonated with most of the weaker Third World countries. In short, North Korea's Third World diplomacy can be seen as a reflection of North Korea's dynamic will to lead the international communist movement's unity based on “independence” amidst the global historical shifts of the emergence of countries (the Third World = Tricontinental) that challenged the “logic of power” and “normality” imposed by the Cold War structure centered on the US and the Soviet Union, and the divisions within the socialist bloc (great powerism, revisionism, and dogmatism).