The Korean National Council of Women, a women’s organization established
in 1959, has received criticism in Korean literature for its
collaboration with the authoritarian regimes that ruled South Korea for
decades. This article, however, argues for a different kind of
interpretation. The Korean National Council of Women came together to
join the International Council of Women, a major international women’s
organization that was looking for new affiliations in the recently
decolonized parts of Asia and Africa in the midst of Cold War
competition. Thus, we should view the existence of the Korean National
Council of Women in the framework of transnational women’s activism and
how the Cold War shaped it. After outlining the connections made between
South Korean women and the International Council of Women, the article
analyzes the projects proposed by the Korean National Council of Women
under the anti-communist authoritarian regime. Based on archival
research in South Korea and Belgium, this article argues that instead of
following rules from above, the Korean National Council of Women
negotiated a way to combine the advancement of women’s issues with the
development of the nation. The International Council of Women, while
criticizing communist women for their close relationship with the state,
celebrated the achievements its South Korean affiliate made as a
state-registered organization.