“The harsh reality faced by North Korean workers and students is unpaid forced labor and exploitation. Those who refuse face being sent to forced labor camps where they must do hard labor, face physical abuse from guards, and are treated as less than human.”

-Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

Recently, over the past six months, Human Rights Watch interviewed approximately 65 North Korean defectors in South Korea and Thailand. They listened to detailed accounts of life in North Korea, and asked specific questions about the unpaid forced labour system. When students finish school, they are given work placements without any say in the matter. They are forced to work long hours with no pay or a minimal substitution of food rations. In North Korea, not going to work or quitting your job, is grounds for severe punishment. If a North Korean misses one day of work, they are severely beaten by their manager or a government official. If they miss more than one day or stop coming to work altogether, the government will find them and send them to a forced labour camp for as little as three months to as long as two years.

Although North Korea’s constitution strictly forbids child labour, defectors have told Human Rights Watch that children in secondary school are regularly given work assignments in the afternoon and only attend school in the morning. In some of the poorer areas of North Korea, children are forced to work as early as age 8. Phil Robertson quoted, “While the North Korean government puts on grand shows of children dancing and performing in synchronized pageants for the world to see, the daily reality for many children is grinding, forced labour made worse by a lack of necessary food.”

Not surprisingly, North Korea is one of the few countries in the world that is not a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Human Rights Watch is encouraging North Korea to join the ILO and abide by internationally recognized labour standards. Children are being exploited at a time when they should be enjoying life, receiving a proper education and getting sufficient nutrients. As the years pass, more defectors are coming forth and sharing their stories with the rest of the world about this exploitive economic system. The truth is out there, it’s time to act. International organizations and governments need to put pressure on North Korea to change it’s labour standards and join the 21st century.

-Michelle Ragno

Read the full article here from Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/13/north-korea-economic-system-built-forced-labor

I’m often asked what sparked my interest in North Korea. Well, here we go…

Back in June 2008, I was presented with an opportunity to travel to North Korea. It was only a day trip, a little bit more expensive than I could afford and a tough sell when I was in South Korea with the intentions of saving money. I’m not sure whether this applies to me, my friends or just males in general but there comes a few times in life where bragging is absolutely important. You know, the “I just won $650 at that poker tournament” or “I just drank 5 litres of eggnog in a contest to win an iPad, vomited, lost but man, three people cheered me on and it was great!” I’ll be the first to admit that although I couldn’t financially justify a trip to North Korea at the time, bragging was (and usually is) of utmost importance and so if $250 was the price tag to show off, I was more than happy to be a customer. Heck, buy me two. I’ll bring my partner along. Because really, who gets to say they went to North Korea?

A few weeks later we took a five or six hour overnight bus from Masan (way down in the south of South Korea) to Seoul, slept in a PC room and before we knew it, we were on a bus to North Korea. As we were sitting there in our bus, somewhere in the middle of the DMZ, I remember the sight of our South Korean military escort turning around and heading back south of the DMZ after having driven in front of us for the better part of the last hour. In what seemed like somewhere between 10 minutes and forever, we sat there, an entire bus silent, wondering what the heck was going to happen next. Why are we not moving? Where did the South Koreans go? Is this trip over? Why is nobody saying anything? Thought after thought crossed my mind and although a bus full of passengers sat quietly and waited, you just had to know that everyone on that bus was thinking the same thing. It’s like being at a grade 8 dance where the boys and girls stand awkwardly, each group on opposite sides of the gym, as K-Ci and Jojo’s “All My Life” plays in the background. Take that tension, remove the hormones, place it on a bus and drive that bus to the demilitarized zone of two countries at war since 1950. That’s what that felt like.

Without warning and in the distance, we saw a jeep driving towards us. Few moments in life happen in slow motion. For me, it’s my first kiss, proposing to my fiancée, seeing my friends and family at the airport after being gone for a long time, eating a perfect meal and this moment in the bus. You knew who was on that jeep ahead by the soviet style military uniform the passengers were wearing. You knew where they came from and if the goosebumps on my arms were any indication of the feeling during that exact moment, you knew that something cool and somewhat rare was taking place. I remember my thoughts at the time and how I must have felt just like Elliot from E.T. when he first saw that alien, because really, who gets to drive behind a jeep full of North Korean soldiers in you know, North Korea? Oh man, the things I’ll tell my friends. What’d you do today? Eat a grilled cheese? Go to work? Take a flight to Fiji? Unless you were on a rocket to the moon, I win, because I got to go to North Korea.

I’m glad to say that my first introduction to North Korea evolved beyond my ability to brag to everyone. Admittedly, I knew very little about North Korea before arriving there. I knew that it was a closed off society and something about nuclear weapons. I knew a little about the regime and the control it had over its people but to be completely honest, I didn’t know much more. But quite a few times throughout that short trip, I saw things that raised questions in my mind. Why do these roads look so wide? Why aren’t there any cars driving on these roads? Where is everyone? Why does everyone I see look so happy? Is everyone happy? People here do dress much more conservatively than they do in South Korea. Why is that? Why’s everyone wearing a pin of Kim Il Sung? What happens if they don’t wear one? Why are Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il the only authors for the books in this store? What is this place? What the heck is going on?

Upon returning to South Korea, I had to know exactly what North Korea was. What was going on over there and to what extent. Over the next three years, I spent a lot of time asking questions, reading, researching and meeting people who knew some answers: South Koreans, North Koreans, Canadians and others. While I will admit that it has not always been easy learning about what happens in the North, the most surprising thing after all these years is not the information I have come across, but my feeling that a larger part of the world has no clue that all this stuff is going on.

Enter the North Korean Human Rights Film Festival. I want to take that feeling I felt in 2008 – the feeling as I was driving back to South Korea after that bizarre trip – the feeling that inspired me to learn more and tell others. I want the viewers at NKHRFF to walk away feeling the same way. 

- Gilad Cohen

At a grander scale of history, the Korean War and the North-South divide was inevitable and in no way was it avoidable. If you look at the historic period of the Cold War, both Western and Communist regime had no choice to protect its own interest and the territorial influence of its surrounding region was crucial in protecting itself.

Certainly, there was a divide amongst Koreans about development of Korea after being colonized by Japan. Certainly, there were different views amongst scholars, politicians and Korean people. But, as a South Korean, I cannot help but to feel that we were merely pawns to protect Western/Communist ideologies in the East Asian region.

With the same line of reasoning, I am skeptical of the possibility of the reunification of the Koreas. China’s economical and political power is disrupting the hegemonic position of the Western ideology. Within the East Asia region, China enjoys the kind of power U.S. used to enjoy during post-Cold War period. Certain countries have started to trade with Yuan as their main currency and China has assertively started to demand a re-negotiation of its sea territorial boundaries.

Therefore, how likely would it be for China to want the reunification of the Korean people and have a democratic government, based on Western ideology, right next to its boundaries?

Not very likely.

It is saddening, and somewhat infuriating, to know that your own people had to suffer from a major civil war because of an ideology split between major powers and because we were a country that was, at the time, powerless to control our own fate.

But, South Korea is starting to become an economical power house, and along with it, our political influence is increasing. Also, with China’s recent condemnation towards North Korea there is certainly hope.

Therefore, as active citizens, we must inform our governments that human rights should not be subjective to politics, and this includes the rights of the North Korean people. That’s why I believe awareness campaigns like North Korean Human Rights Film Festival is so important because for any change to occur we must begin with knowing or understanding the problems.

As you come and watch our films in July, I hope you will understand that this isn’t just about watching an interesting movie or documentary, this is about real life social problems. Problems that are affecting close to 20 million people in North Korea and we could, if we choose to, gather support for a mass global campaign to pressure North Korea and its close allies to provide a better future for North Korean citizens.

- Yun Sik Shin

We wanted to let you know that we will be at the Korean DANO Spring festival this weekend, June 1st & 2nd. The festival is located in Korea Town at Christie Pitts Park.  Admission is free and the festival will feature Korean food, traditional dance and music, Korean Pop, arts & crafts, Taekwondo demonstrations, sports competitions, veterans’ exhibitions, business booths and continuous entertainment along with a beer garden. If you are interested in Korean culture and especially Korean food, you definitely don’t want to miss this event!

NKHRFF will have a booth in the community area at the festival. We will be there from 3 pm – 7:30 pm on Friday and 11 am – 6 pm on Saturday! Come visit us to find out more information about our fundraising event on June 9th, our film festival from July 6th – 8th, or even if you just want to discuss the current situation in North Korea. We are so excited to be a part of the festival and we can’t wait to see everyone there!

Check out this link to see footage from the 2011 festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEM3s3_Mq34&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Website: http://www.koreandanospringfestival.com/

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/KoreanDanoSpringFestival

A friend of mine last week asked me why and how do North Koreans defect. I answered him and thought that it was worth sharing with everyone else. Here’s what I wrote. 

How do North Korean defectors leave North Korea? Most of them cross one of two rivers (Tumen or Yalu Rivers) between North Korea and China that both stretch for hundreds of kilometres. These rivers at some points are deep and have to be swum across while at other points they’re shallow and can be walked across. If there’s a border guard, it can be quite dangerous but in some cases they can be bribed. Most North Koreans are starving and will take a bribe, even border guards. There are stories about brokers who help North Koreans defect while some also do it on their own.

Once in China, they’re still in hiding and not safe. China has an agreement with North Korea to send all defectors back, even though that runs counter to the UN Convention on Refugees. That’s one of the biggest problems here: if China complied by the rules, the situation would be a lot better as North Koreans could resettle once the’ve escaped into China. So basically they have to cross illegally into China and from China they have to cross illegally into another country (usually Laos, Thailand, Mongolia). Once they’re there, they can claim asylum and work towards getting resettled somewhere like South Korea, US, Canada, Southeast Asia, etc.

North Korea is an extremely opressive place. People don’t have the freedom of movement, free expression, religion and more. Although it’s slightly improving these days, access to outside information is extremely limited and even modern day technology like the Internet is unavailable for North Koreans. For them, it’s extremely difficult (and in most cases illegal) to learn anything about the outside world. Despite all this, the #1 reason a majority defect from North Korea is because they’re simply starving.

- Gilad Cohen

I suppose I should introduce myself here, as I had not in my previous post. My name is Michelle and I am the co-director of NKHRFF. I have decided to write this week’s blog post about how I became interested in North Korean human rights – because it is the question I get asked most often.  ”…but why North Korea? There are so many problems in the world, why this one?” I like to respond with, “why NOT North Korea?” It’s actually this very question that continually drives me to advocate for human rights in North Korea. It shouldn’t surprise everyone the way it does when they learn about the horrific conditions North Koreans are living in. It shouldn’t surprise people to learn there is more to North Korea than crazy Kim Jong-il and his nuclear shenanigans. But it DOES. And it’s because North Korea is only ever in the news for their provocations towards the South or their failed missile attempts or their many nuclear threats. This is why I don’t at all blame people when they ask me that question of “why North Korea?” because until recently, I also was completely in the dark about what actually goes on inside North Korea. I only thought of Team America and ‘that crazy communist dictator’ when I thought about North Korea, honestly. I knew nothing about real life inside North Korea.

I lived and worked in South Korea for two years. I visited the DMZ (demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas) – basically with very little knowledge about the North and more so just to say that I went there. It wasn’t until I lived in South Korea for nearly a year and half, that I finally decided it was time for me to actually do some research about North Korea. And what I found what astonishing. I absolutely could not believe I had been living SO close to this country. This country that is a close replica to George Orwell’s 1984, this country that has taken nearly every God given freedom away from it’s citizens…this country that no one even knows about. North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world. It is totally cutoff from the outside world due to strict governmental and military control over its people. What this means is that many North Koreans have no idea about life outside of North Korea – they are told numerous fabrications from they day they are born and if they even think about challenging the regime, they face extreme danger.

I couldn’t believe that  a good majority of the world wasn’t aware of the human rights situation in North Korea, myself included. When I researched more and more, and watched every documentary I could get my hands on, I only grew more and more frustrated. I felt like North Korea was a forgotten country. A country that everyone deemed as too difficult to save. It’s true…North Korea is an extremely difficult and complicated situation to even begin to comprehend. But does that mean we forget about it and move on to countries that we feel we can change? What about the people of North Korea? They are human beings, just like you and  me. They deserve a life full of freedoms, full of decisions, full of traveling, full of happiness and love.

North Korea isn’t just another human rights crisis to me. It has become much more personal than that. When I lived in South Korea, I really grew to love the country, the people, the culture – basically everything about it. I had always thought of North and South Korea as two completely different countries. But as I learned more about the history of the Korean peninsula, the Korean War, and the separated families that would never see each other again, I began to think about Korea as one country – one country that has been torn apart by other self-interested countries. It is a very sad reality. But it is a reality that we can change. Human rights in North Korea needs to be addressed urgently. We can no longer turn our backs on the suffering people of North Korea and there is no more room for ignorance. I do believe that change has to come from the North Korean people themselves. But we can still act as a catalyst by spreading awareness and demanding this be an issue of international importance.

Alright, so there is my novel about why I am so passionate about North Korea. Didn’t mean for it to to get so long, but I hope it helps in understanding why this festival is so important to me. And I cannot say enough how much I appreciate the support Toronto has shown us. It really means the world to us here at NKHRFF. Thank you so much

Sincerely,

Michelle Ragno

Anyone who knows me knows that I talk a lot. I’m always talking. It can be really annoying sometimes, I’m sure. After I learned about the horrible history of North Korea, about the life there today, I continued talking – that didn’t change – but I felt compelled to talk about the situation there. I felt a responsibility, I felt that I knew this thing that others didn’t, and I felt that I needed others to know as well. And to be honest, I was surprised how many people didn’t know. So I figured I could change that. And I hope that on July 8th, when our film festival is all done, you walk away at least a little more curious about North Korea. I hope you feel this responsibility as well. We can’t necessarily go into North Korea and change the way life works there. We can’t snap our fingers and make things better instantly but we do have the power to talk. To talk to others. We have the ability to spread the truth — the real one — to others. Awareness is so important.

I’ve read a lot about North Korea, have met many North Koreans and have heard so many of their sad stories, but so many happy ones as well. Either way, North Koreans have a story that’s worth hearing and worth knowing about.

Remember, you have the power to tell others. The freedom to tell others. The right to tell others. You should never hesitate to do so.

Gilad Cohen

So some of you may be wondering what the message is behind our campaign posters. The poster you see here can have a lot of different meanings and interpretations, but I will tell you what it means to me. The people of North Korea live in a country that is shut off from the rest of the world. They do not have access to any communication devices that we take for granted every day. They know only what their government tells them (which is mostly propaganda enabling the extreme cult of personality surrounding the Kim dynasty). However, lately there have been reports of more information getting inside North Korea via radio, cell phones, etc. As North Koreans begin to learn more about the outside world, it further highlights the injustices they are facing on a daily basis. The trust they have in their own government is diminishing as they learn about the many lies they’ve been told over the years about the world outside of North Korea. In the image above, there is film wrapped around the man’s face, specifically covering his mouth. This represents the lack of freedoms felt by the North Korean population, specifically their freedom of speech. The fact that you can only see his one eye is representative of the North Korean people starting to get a glimpse of the world outside their own; however, they are still unable to voice their concerns about the regime because they risk losing their lives or getting sent to a labour camp. The film wrapped around his face is showing the oppression this man feels, as well as his inability to change his situation. We chose to use film reel to represent the mission of our film festival, which is to show the stories of the North Korean people through film. The film reel is also representative of spreading awareness and allowing the North Korean voice be heard through film, to the people of Toronto who will attend the NKHRFF. As I said before, this image can mean different things to different people. We’d love to hear how this campaign makes you feel, what thoughts or feelings it evokes in you. Visit our FB page or comment here and let us know! http://www.facebook.com/NKHRFF

Thanks for all your support Toronto,

Michelle Ragno

Hi everyone,

I can’t say this often enough but thank you so much to everyone who is supporting our film festival. Without you spreading the word about North Korea and our film festival as well as attending our events, we would be doing all of this for nothing. So to everyone — thank you!

We have just launched a new campaign through StartSomeGood to raise funds for our upcoming film festival in July. At this point, we need your help. We need you to help spread the word about our film festival, our purpose to educate the world and bring awareness to the horrible human rights crisis in North Korea. We have a complete budget breakdown for this event, how we plan to use the funds raised and how we will allocate everything to continue spreading the word.

You can check out our campaign by clicking here.

Thank you so much for all of your help.

Gilad Cohen