Women, Dictators, and Foreign Policy: Exploring the Role of Finland and Sweden in North Korea’s Struggle for Women’s Rights

This thesis studies Finland’s and Sweden’s current and potential future engagement methods with the DPRK by focussing on women’s rights and gender equality. Interviews held with Finnish and Swedish foreign ministry representatives, NGO workers, and experts on North Korea reveal how the two countries engage with North Korea and how women’s rights and gender equality are being addressed in the Northeast Asian context. It will first outline how this research was conducted before introducing some of the most pertinent problems relating to gender equality and women’s right in the DPRK. Next, the histories between North Korea and the two Nordic states is outlined, after which theoretical considerations concerning feminist foreign policy, human-rights based, middlepowermanship, and soft power are discussed. Research findings are then examined and analysed before concluding with further broader examination of Finnish and Swedish engagement with North Korea and the importance of advancing gender equality and women’s rights globally.