1983 Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture of the Non-Aligned Movement

The 1983 Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture of the Non-Aligned Movement convened in Pyongyang, North Korea was the first conference of the NAM ministers of education and culture which took place between 24 and 28 September. North Korea's proposal to host this event received acknowledgment and endorsement in the final declaration of the 7th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in New Delhi, India earlier that same year.

The conference in Pyongyang was opened with the speech of Kim Il Sung on development of national culture in emerging countries. The conference called upon the member states to cooperate with the new "Josip Broz Tito" Art Gallery of the Nonaligned Countries which was to open its doors in 1984.

Context and organization
North Korea originally joined the Non-Aligned Movement from 1976 on the basis of unanimous decision at the 1975 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference in Lima, Peru. This was possible after normalization of North Korean relations with SFR Yugoslavia in 1971 (North Korea severely criticized what it called Yugoslav revisionism in 1950s and 1960s) when that country started supporting North Korean membership, yet North Korea unsuccessfully tried to bring the Korean conflict on the NAM agenda in first years of its membership. North Korean idea to invite large number of high ranking NAM delegations to attend 70th birthday of Kim Il Sung was respectfully rejected as well, yet the country aimed to host a large scale NAM event to partially mitigate successful South Korean application to host the 1988 Summer Olympics.

North Korea subsequently nevertheless ensured support of the NAM members to organize the NAM conference on education and culture. Embassy of the Hungarian People's Republic in Pyongyang sent a ciphered telegram on 15 August 1983 in which it strongly criticized the conduct of the Korean host for excluding Cuba from the committee which was drafting the final documents and for pushing Juche ideology.

After the event in Pyongyang, Mengistu Haile Mariam again confidentially told to the Yugoslav delegation that he prefers North Korea as a host of the upcoming 8th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement as a counterbalance to 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea and response to the Western powers. Yugoslav delegation nevertheless avoided to reply to this proposal and underlined that the host will be decided at the upcoming 1985 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference in Luanda, Angola.