EcoS Guest Lecture with Dr. Sabine Burghart

Date: June 1 (Monday), 2026, 17:00–18:15 (CET)
Venue: Seminar Room OAW (2I-O1-05), Entrance 5.4, Hof 5, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna

Europe’s neutrals (except Ireland) were among the first Western countries to recognise the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the 1970s. In general, Europe’s Western-oriented neutrals considered relations with the communist halves of divided Germany, Korea and Vietnam a politically sensitive matter. Therefore, any actions that would imply diplomatic recognition of North Korea were to be avoided, at least until the 1970s. However, the initially cautious backing of commercial exchanges with North Korea in the early 1960s developed quickly into an increasingly institutionalised support for the expansion of trade, which challenged the self-declared objectives. Based on an analysis of a large body of primary sources this presentation reconstructs the development of North Korea’s relations with Finland and Austria until formal recognition (late 1950s to 1974). Particular attention will also be paid to North Korea’s objectives and strategies as well as the role of significant third countries for Finland’s and Austria’s decision to normalise relations with the DPR Korea.

Sabine Burghart, Dr. phil., is University Lecturer and Academic Director at the Centre for East Asian Studies (CEAS), University of Turku in Finland. Before joining CEAS she held positions as a lecturer and researcher at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna. Between 2018 and 2021 she was a co-researcher in Korean Studies at the Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt. Her research interests mainly concern foreign aid, institutions and ownership in development partnerships with relevance to South and North Korea. In 2021, she initiated a research project on the history of Finland's relations with the Koreas (co-researcher: Ville Sava). She regularly participates in international teaching collaboration and is a co-founder of the biennial Nordic-Baltic Korean Studies Days. She spent more than five years of her professional career in Korea, and facilitated various capacity building projects and three EU-DPRK economic workshops in North Korea.

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