The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Romania have maintained limited bilateral relations since the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

According to the British journalist Edward Behr, Ceaușescu admired Kim as a leader because he dominated his nation and broke free from Soviet control, combining totalitarian methods with ultra-nationalist and communist ideologies.

[7] Behr wrote that the possibility for "vast Potemkin villages for the hoodwinking of gullible foreign guests" that Ceaușescu had seen in North Korea was something that never seemed to have crossed his mind before.

He issued the July Theses, a set of proposals that tightened government control over Romanian media, promoted nationalism, and intensified his personality cult.

Ceausescu's execution during the 1989 Romanian Revolution and the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in Romania rejecting totalitarian ideologies still promoted in the DPRK.