Abstract

Recently declassified US and Australian documents reveal the story of Australia’s ill-fated embassy located in Pyongyang for six months in 1975. The government of Gough Whitlam believed that Australia should have diplomatic relations with all countries and that it could fill a diplomatic void with an embassy in Pyongyang. Whitlam and his associates anticipated benefits for Australia, Western countries in general, as well as for North Korea. Instead, diplomatic relations with North Korea limited Australian diplomatic options, antagonized Australia’s allies (none of which had recognized North Korea) and won no respect from Kim Il Sung and his associates. The article argues that both North Korea and Western countries lost an opportunity with the failure of this embassy but that given North Korea’s unconventional behavior and indifference to world opinion, opportunities for success were at best limited. It argues that universality is a fine principle of diplomacy, but that realistically it is not always practical.