status was very different for the two types of NGO status."
No it wasn't. Support of the goals and ideals of the UN was a requirement for attaining either status.
Regardless, any argument the WT or its apologists make to excuse its hypocrisy is untenable in view of the following:
Organized To Accomplish Our Ministry (1983) p.151
Concerning those who renounce their Christian faith in his day, the apostle John wrote: "They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us" (1 John 2:19). Also, a person might renounce his place in the Christian congregation by his actions, such as by becoming part of a secular organization the objective of which is contrary to the Bible and, hence, is under judgment by Jehovah God (compare Revelation 19:17-21; Isaiah 2:4). So if a person who is a Christian chooses to join those who are disapproved by God, it would be fitting for the congregation to acknowledge by a brief announcement that he has disassociated himself and is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Such a person would be viewed in the same way as a disfellowshipped person.
"As Jehovah's Witnesses they value their relationship to God and Christ above everything
else. Were they to identify themselves as giving unquestioning support to any political
arrangement... Any act on their part that would indicate otherwise, therefore, would be an act of disloyalty. Such an act would be taking away from God and Christ their rightful due and would be worship to the "wild beast." No matter how insignificant the act required may seem, a Christian's engaging in such worship would mean his being disloyal to God and Christ." Watchtower 1976 October 15 pp .632,636