From May 9th to May 11th the Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen, Norway and the Seoul based non governmental organization Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights together hosted «North Korea: New Approaches.», the7th International Conference on North Korean Human Rights & Refugees. Close to 200 delegates from over 20 countries attended the event in Bergen. The aim of the conference was to discuss different approaches for real improvement for human rights in North Korea. Dialogue and different views, as opposed to joint resolutions, were emphasized in order to find strategies for the road ahead.  (01-JUNE-2006)

By Therese Jebsen, Executive director, Rafto Human Rights House and Sverre Chr. Wilhelmsen, conference co-ordinator

The situation of North Korea is not very well known in Scandinavia, or indeed Western Europe. For this reason, the conference in the city of Bergen was important; it created a momentum for raising the awareness within European democracies.

New door openers? 
While prior conferences had concentrated on propagating the seriousness of the human rights situation in North Korea, the challenge now was bringing the process forward into new areas and get new groups involved. In addition to people who have been engaged with the topic of human rights in different ways, conference participants in Bergen 2006 included people who could bring a new perspective to the challenges of this work, although normally not working strictly on a human rights agenda. The program encouraged the expression of various opinions, and tried to get a consensus of the participants through culture, art and sports. Can participants from these groups be door openers also in the human rights field?

The theatrical lines of world famous play writer Henrik Ibsen and the music of composer Edvard Grieg was heard during these days. And already the first afternoon participants from five different continents experienced how arts can be related to the international society, as much more than mere entertainment. When North Korean defector and pianist Kim Cheol-woong played the folk song Arirang on the piano, this represented a powerful language beyond boarders and nations.

Sports in politics. Politics in sports
Most nations use sports and top results as an “exhibition” of their own skills and qualities. The events reach millions of people through the medias, and huge amounts of money are involved. In 2008 the People´s Republic of China will host the Olympics. Can this be a golden opportunity to raise the question of human rights?  As a part of the international conference the organisers screened a series of five documentary films at Bergen Kino, all focused on North Korea, but taking different approaches; some described NK with a certain amount of understanding and compassion, while others emphasize the fact that North Korea is an authoritarian regime. One of the films, « The Game of their lives», tells the story of the North Korean football team during the World Cup of 1966, showing how images of one´s enemies can fade away, as sport teams and individuals, and the event itself, build a bridge to friendly relationships, across boarders. This British documentary was also the backdrop for the session where sports potential in the democratic process of closed regimes is discussed. 

Improved economic relations an option?
The dismal human rights situation in North Korea is commonly met by a call for economic sanctions by the international community. A different kind of approach is expanding economic relations with North Korea, with a view to strengthening the forces in the country that would support a move towards more democracy. One session at the conference, in cooperation with the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Bergen, focused on whether improved economic relations with North Korea is a realistic and desirable option. What are the basic mechanisms that link economic and democratic development? And what are the implications for the international community, and for multinational corporations, in dealing with countries such as North Korea?

Challenges for the journalistic work
Parts of the program during these days in May took place outside the conference hotel. Through a cooperation with The Nordic Media Festival – gathering around 700 people from different medias – crucial challenges for the journalistic work were raised. In a joint session at the Grieg Hall the panel shared their experiences from countries with restrictions of various degrees, from Zimbabwe and Belarus to North Korea. The public were presented no easy answers here. And we surely intend to keep asking questions like these in our future work, also related to the North Korean issue: How can one report credible news from dictatorial regimes? How does one deal with powerful accounts and a wish to give the story “a face” when the scarcity of information might tempt the interviewees to exaggerate or construct stories, in order to get attention or promote their cause? How does one get material validated and thus maintain its credibility? How can one, with a basis in the ethical standards of journalists and sources, get the optimum from the possibilities and limitations of the material? Lastly, how can one avoid official distribution channels strangling the flow of independent news?

All resistance grows from one little deed
A piano composition by Harald Sæverud, “Kjempeviseslåtten”, a musical icon and also a symbol of the Norwegian resistance against the Nazis, was the closing piece of the conference. It starts off tenderly and then grows and grows and grows – an effective technique: When things are repeated again and again, it eventually becomes a reality. During World War II people saw this. They understood that resistance starts off with one little deed and that it in turn grows and grows. This became a powerful symbol then, and – we hope – at the end of the North Korea: New Approaches conference.