The 12th World Festival of Youth and Students was held in Moscow in 1985. This was the 2nd year after beginning of North Korean unofficial policy of openness, which followed Kim Il-sung’s Eastern European tour of 1984. Since 1984 North Korean relations with the USSR and Eastern European countries were significantly improved and the decision to hold the next Festival of Youth and Students of 1989 in Pyongyang seemed to be quite logical. The North Korean society of mid 1980s has shown some trends for more openness and reforms. The population of North Korea herself seemed to be tired of continuous restrictions and limitations, and was on the way for more freedom. So, North Korean people expected that the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students could become a pretext for the more open foreign relations in the future. In addition North Korean failure of attempts of co-hosting the 1988 Olympics Games together with South Korea attached particular importance to the 1989 Festival, which should restore the prestige o