This chapter examines overseas performances of South Korean traditional music in the 1960s as a critical turning point that shaped both the origins and subsequent trajectory of its international circulation. Emerging from colonial rule, war, and national division, South Korea mobilized overseas performances as a strategic platform for defining and disseminating national culture within the geopolitical context of the global Cold War. Focusing on staged presentations of Korean traditional music, this study argues that these performances functioned not merely as cultural exchanges but as structured cultural constructs shaped by Cold War politics, state nationalism, and artistic ambition. The repertoires, formats, and institutional frameworks consolidated during the 1960s became canonized through repeated international tours and provided a lasting template for overseas performances of Korean traditional music in the decades that followed. By situating these performances within Cold War cultural diplomacy and inter-Korean competition, the chapter demonstrates how Korean traditional music was transformed into an instrument of national representation and global cultural circulation.