The late 1950s witnessed a rise of nationalism throughout Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe due to the change of the Soviet Union’s political course from the Stalinist iron curtain to pro-American and anti-War campaigns. The period also saw a reorganization of power relations within the Socialist Bloc as the Soviet-China conflicts began to surface. It was under this international climate that North Korea, desperate to restore economic devastation from the Korean War (1953-1956), has maintained the equidistance foreign policy between China and the Soviet Union during the period. At the same time, the war-ravaged nation tried to discover a diplomatic breakthrough from its relations with Eastern Bloc as a means to diversify sources of economic aid and to achieve a diplomatic balance. “Literature and art can penetrate where politics cannot,” a slogan representing the culture-first policy of North Korea: and it led to signing cultural agreements with Eastern Europe nations, sending out artworks, organizing exhibition committees, and dispatching artists to the comrade nations. Some remarkable shows include Exhibitions of Joseon Art, which toured Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia in 1957 to 58, and Visual and Plastic Art from Joseon held in Germany and Hungary, 1959. The works in display were thematically of a country (North Korea) making way to stability under international aid and visually of native lyricism describing natural sceneries of and around Mt. Geumgang, Mt. Myohyang and Moran Peak without any political implications.