[4] This event was the last festival held during the Cold War era as waves of unrest began to occur throughout the communist world later on in the year.

[8] Throughout this delegation's and others' time in Korea however, the North Korean government imposed boundaries and restrictions on foreigners' movements and behavior, as well as constant surveillance over its own population.

Danish activists caused a stir during the opening ceremony of the festival when they unfurled a banner criticizing North Korea's human rights abuses.

[8] At the festival, well over 1,000 events took place, from round-table political discussions, solidarity rallies, and plenary sessions, to sports matches, artistic performances, film showings and visits around Pyongyang and beyond.

Upon her arrival in Pyongyang, and throughout her time in North Korea, the public treated Lim like a celebrity, asking her questions about her ideology and broadcasting her activities during and after the visit.

[4] Contemporary news reports in the Western world in general saw the Thirteenth Festival of Youth and Students as a failed effort on the part of Kim Il Sung, and the North Korean government, to increase their standing in the international community.

The extravagant expenditures put North Korea into a hole it could not get out of, exacerbated by unfavourable economic conditions in the next decade with the fall of the Soviet Union and concurrent famine.

Contrary to some Western predictions that the inflow of foreign influence would contribute to North Korea's openness, after the festival Pyongyang tightened its control over its population in order to "wipe out all the remnants of 'foreign culture'".

[10] Historian Andrei Lankov has concluded that even though the country increased information control after the festival, "this was the beginning of major changes" in the infiltration of foreign influence into North Korea, which led to a negative impact on the regime's political legitimacy.

[4] In the subsequent decade, advances in media technology and loosening of border controls with China caused further change in North Koreans' perception of the outside world.

[10] After the festival, the South Korean president increased the stakes for reconciliation by demanding that the North change its political structure as a precondition to reunification, something usually only presented by the northern side.