Bjørnar Simonsen

This article is written by Halvor. It is written based on his experiences and perception of reality. Information that is relayed in the article should not be viewed as authoritative in any other respect than that it reflects the impression of what is described which is inherent to Halvor. Often subjects are described based on a relatively scant body of evidence because Halvor believes that these perspectives are not known to people and that it is important for people to be aware of them even though the existing information must be considered unconfirmed. Familiarity with Halvor will also be decisive concerning to what degree the person who reads this information will be able to appraise what is written as credible.

This article is also available in Norwegian

Bjørnar Simonsen in 2005

Bjørnar Simonsen (also Bjornar 홍길동 허균, born March 15, 1977) is a Norwegian IT consultant and a PR representative for North Korea.

Biography

Cohabitation with Halvor

Lasting from the summer of 1996 until August 1997 Bjørnar Simonsen was the cohabitant and boyfriend of Halvor R. Johansen (who now only uses the first name) after the two had become acquainte at The Gathering -96, a LAN party taking place in the Vikingskipet Olympic Arena at Hamar, Norway. At that time he used Luyten as his online handle, and the computer which he connected with Halvor's network on a 28k leased line Internet connection was named procyon.meco.no.net.

Family relations, growing up, and forced partnership

Bjørnar Simonsen had up until that time lived at home with his father at Holmlia, a suburb of Oslo, however his living conditions there had become increasingly problematic after his father had entered a cohabitant relationship with a Russian woman. In connection to this Bjørnar had become a good friend of the head of the Russian mafia in Norway. Being subjected to a considerable amount of pressure Bjørnar at that time entered into a legal same-sex partnership with the son of his dad's partner, Dennis. Bjørnar told Halvor that the section for foreigners at Oslo Police Department was privy to the pro forma nature of this relationship but made no objections. Thus Dennis' residence permit was secured. Bjørnar's mom receives disability benefits because of mental ailments.

Sexuality

Bjørnar Simonsen is expressly bisexual, and when Halvor was in contact with him via telephone in 2004 he had both a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and the threesome shared their living space in a villa in the center of Bærum, an affluent municipality neighbouring Oslo. He also asserted at that time that he was a multi-millionaire. Bjørnar has also been relatively open about his zoosexual experiences which were made among a closed group of friends during adolescence.

Computer expert with failed predictions

Bjørnar Simonsen could without controversy be labeled a computer expert. He has been employed at the headquarters of Norsk Hydro at Vækerø, Oslo. He used to be an OS/2 aficionado, and as one of very few people he held a steadfast belief in the future of this operating system. Bjørnar Simonsen may even have been under contract with IBM for a period. Equally emphatic were his projections about the predicted global computer crash which would be triggered by the entrance into a new millenium, the so-called Y2K or Year 2000 problem.

Bjørnar has a profile in connection with the international project SETI@Home There he writes (probably written in 2004) that he has been a project participant since 1999, and that he believes in the existence of extraterrestrial life. He also shares some personal thoughts on the subject.

Zen buddhisme, occultism and psychological considerations

When Halvor was in contact with Bjørnar in 2004 he had made a shift towards Zen Buddhism, a religious path which may provide strength to people living in unbearable life conditions through its focus on the power of trancendence. Zen busshism has also been called a warrior religion. At that time he had changed significantly his speech pattern, systematically avoiding the use of the first-person pronoun and replaced this with "one" (Norwegian man and en). Halvor has since reflected upon whether this could be the results of advanced depersonalization and ego dissolution due to sustained extreme cross-pressures. An SMS which Halvor received in which Bjørnar requested that further contacts must cease "due to the existing circumstances" was by Halvor interpreted to support such a speculation.

In January 2009 Halvor and Bjørnar had a formal, pre-arranged meeting at the Politiker'n pub at Youngstorget in Oslo to discuss Bjørnar's request that the present page be deleted. With him to this meeting Bjørnar had brought a book by Aleister Crowley. On his Facebook profile Bjørnar has furthermore added 93 greetings, which is common amonf thelemites.

Sees himself as belonging to North Korea's privileged elite

On November 16, 2007 Halvor had a conversation with a common acquaintance of his and Bjørnar's. This individual had spoken with Bjørnar, who had been upset at Halvor and asserted that he was a psychopath (and had been also when they were together). This person was profoundly taken aback by the fact that Bjørnar would find it in his heart to support a government such as the North Korean, and had asked Bjørnar how he could defend a regime which treated its subjects so abjectly (in his opinion). To this Bjørnar's response was that in such a society he himself would be among the privileged segment of the populace.

Prominent PR representative for North Korea

«I am idealist, but I find that idealist and communist is the same. I became an idealist at age 9. then at age 12 i understood communism. That same year, i wrote a school paper about the DPRK. It was my first time of interest about the DPRK. My teachers were also curious since nobody had asked about or written about the DPRK prior to this. Ever since, I have loved the country of DPRK and first saw the KFA webpage in year 2000.»

Bjørnar Simonsen, February 3, 2008

Bjørnar Simonsen features publicly as an international figurehead of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) where he holds a central position in its international leadership, second only to its leader, the spaniard Alejandro Cao de Benos de Les y Pérez. KFA is considered to be a PR organization which aims to counteract the onesidedly negative spin which the North Korean regime is subjected to in the Western media. In a previous biographical article about Bjørnar Simonsen at the English Wikipedia the interplay between the two is described as "good cop" and "bad cop". Bjørnar Simonsen is described as a relatively liberal member of the KFA who often speaks about building bridges between western societies and the DPRK (North Korea).

Bjørnar Simonsen has in this capacity translated the regime's homepage into Norwegian. He has also played a comparable role in relation to the Cuban regime and has visited this country on several occasions.

Netmeeting in connection with North Korea's 60th anniversary

In connection with the 60th anniversary of the DPRK an orderly organized netmeeting was conducted by Bjørnar Simonsen where among other matters the following, most intriguing dialogue takes place:

— (Bjørnar Simonsen) Second question: What are in the minds of youths today in the DPRK, which goals do they have for the next 60 years.
— (DPRK) The youth have a full confidence in their future. first of all, under the wise leadership of General Kim Jong Il, we will open wide the gate to the socialist power in 2012. Around 2012 the korean people are fully confident that not only in military, but economy and social life, everything will be much improved
— (Bjørnar Simonsen) Comment to second question: I imagine that youths of the DPRK have a more brighter future than comparatively youths in the Western world, since they don't face crime, unemployment and uncertainty in the economy
— (DPRK) as we have achieved the goal to become the political/military power, the whole Korean people are going now to focus on the development of the economy. To make our economy booming in the next 20 years
— (Bjørnar Simonsen) As you know, the US economy (which influence much of the other parts of the Westernized world (including Europe, Middle east, Africa and many parts of Asia) will have increasing problems due to uncertainty of the capitalist model.
— (DPRK) The DPRK will be the next ASIAN TIGER in economy, for sure !
— (Bjørnar Simonsen) Yes, everyone right now in the West are looking at China — But China ... is looking at the DPR. Because China will face many challenges ahead, while the DPRK will surely acheive national unity — thus creating the best environment for economic growth, should the two sides work together.

Further on:

— (DPRK) Particularly, the President of KFA, Mr. Alejandro Cao de Benos made a impressive demonstration in the national TV forum by singing the Korean songs in the celebration events. — When Alejandro is walking around the city, many citizens recognize him as the soldier of our General.
— (Bjørnar Simonsen) In this way, Alejandro is honouring our Leaders
— (Hawky) After reunification DPRK will be the great country in the world
— (Bjørnar Simonsen) Then, I'll move to Korea and work from there

Bjørnar Simonsen is of the opinion that DPRK/North Korea will emerge as the world's leading nation, and his admiration for its leader, Kim Jong Il is great (from the same netmeeting as the above):

As we have seen, our Leader Kim Jong Il is always so busy, we've been concerned about his hard work, especially around 2002 which were difficult years. We hope that Kim Jong Il will take the time to relax, too.

I've seen Kim Jong Il only once, and i immediately understand the anecdotes about Kim Jong Ils concern for others is true. He expresses true love and concern for everyone around him before even himself.

Censorship and harassment of Western journalists at KFA trip in 2004

In what has come to be known as "the Andrew Morse incident" Morse, a Western video journalist was threatened by the KFA members of the trip's organizing group, including by Bjørnar Simonsen, because of his work. This came to a head when almost all of his video recordings were stolen and his hard disk was restroyed during a break-in to his hotel room. Morse denied allegations that he had filmed military installations during the excursion. This incident was documented on video, including footage showing Bjørnar Simonsen. Peter Weisman who videotaped the episode and uploaded the video on the web writes on his user page on the English Wikipedia that Bjørnar Simonsen towards the end of the roundtrip intimated to him that his filming had caused "a lot of problems" for the KFA, but for security reasons he wouldn't go into any detail about what he meant. Weisman has reportedly later come into conflict with Bjørnar Simonsen and has received legal threats (see next section). On his user page he disparagingly speaks of Bjørnar Simonsen writing "Bjornar has the personality of Stalin reincarnated".

In 2006 a Dutch film company released the documentary Friends of Kim which details this roundtrip. Most of the video can be viewed on YouTube (see the section External links below). The movie can be bought and is also available on torrent sites.

Active on the English Wikipedia

From 2004 until 2007 Bjørnar Simonsen was actively contributing to (primarily) North Korea-related articles on the English-language Wikipedia. According to a Wikipedia article about Bjørnar Simonsen a conflict with another contributor, namely Peter Weisman who is the person who filmed the conflict with Andrew Morse during a KFA-organized trip to North Korea in 2004, and threats leveled against him by Simonsen of legal persecution, have resulted in Bjørnar Simonsen having to resign from Wikipedia. (According to the contributions log however he was active for more than a years following the deletion of the article in July 2006).

In 2008, during the netmeeting that is described above, Bjørnar Simonsen however expresses that he has given up on the attempts to have Wikipedia present North Korea in a more correct way.

Bjørnar Simonsen also has submitted a proposal to change Wikipedia's basic principle of "Neutral Point of View" to "Balanced Point of View" and formulated a proposal about this which was not adopted.

Being stalked and harassed

Bjørnar Simonsen writes the following about the difficulties he encounters as a result of his KFA activism: "Maybe the DPRK people don't realize how much we are risking our personal lives, career, etc — I am harassed in norwegian media, and everyone ask me about my relations to the DPRK — To some people I am a monster --- a spy --- a nazi even or communist ... .thjey don't care [ ] yes, but imagine if you got into trouble with your employer... or if the media track you down at home and come knocking on your door — or the police take your computer — everything i experienced already — so i live in a secret address and have a secret phone number. — In the DPRK I'm safe - but everywhere else I am a target - as the second in the KFA

Bjørnar's response

On November 18, 2007, 9 months after the creation of this page on the Norwegian language Xiando, the article was attempted deleted and replaced by the following text:

This article is originally written by Halvor Raknes Johansen, a somewhat confused person who has been rejected by society, both the real life society and the artificial net society. Thus he must write pages which are aimed at criminal elements and terrorists. He is so scared of people that he has trampled on and abused previously that he must have secret address and phone number.

Criminal charges have recently been filed against Halvor with the Norwegian authorities for harassment and libel, and he has been reported to the People's Republic of Korea's security agency (DPRK Ministry of People's Security) for infringment of laws and regulations that apply in the People's Republic of Korea.

This will in effect mean a dismissal of the complaint by Norwegian authorities and a refusal of visa and possible arrest on entrance to the People's Republic of Korea or countries which have exchange treaties with Koreas. (e.g. the People's Republic of China)

Information is also provided and caution issued that in certain instances extradition to the People's Republic of Korea must be made through the UN or interpol as well as via the authorities in countries with bilateral cooperation with the People's Republic of Korea.

Copy of the criminal complaint with added documentation will be posted on my blog.

with regards
-Bjørnar-

Criminal complaint rejected

On June 21, 2008 Bjørnar posted a reply from Oslo police on his blog. The police reject the complaint citing that there is doubt whether the accused was legally competent at the time of the offense. This means that the accused is deemed not responsible for his or her actions.

Bjørnar Simonsen writes that he will appeal this decision, "pending a public trial". According to the headings in the letter from the police, Bjørnar Simonsen currently resides in Oslo.

New attempt to remove this article

On the same day that the blog entry which is mentioned above was published the Norwegian article is attempted deleted. Both the English end the Norwegian versions of this article has repeatedly been subjected to such attempts. In the page history the following anonymous commentary is left: ' 4 the significance of the number 4'. Similarly, the discussion page is also attempted deleted with the commentary: ' nobody is above the law. the number 47'.

The number 4 symbolizes death in both Eastern and Western occult traditions. '47' is the country prefix for phone calls to Norway. Otherwise this number is usually associated with the Russian manufactured automatic gun AK-47.

New letter from the Norwegian authorities about Halvor being insane

On October 18, 2008 Bjørnar Simonsen posted a new blog entry with the title "Stalker – part 4", and it reads:

«I received a letter from the higher authorities of the Judicial system in Norway. And as expected they too confirm the utter lunacy of this individual [Halvor] and are incapable of punishing his crimes. I argued in my letters that demonstrating a lunatic behaviour is no excuse to set aside the law. But it does open an interesting door of discussion. Should society set the law aside if you act like an idiot?»

External links

• (Norwegian) Norwegian working for North Korea
• Bjørnar Simonsen's resumé on the KFA we pages (removed as of May 26, 2007)
• Bjørnar Simonsen's blog
• Video at liveleak.com showing Bjørnar Simonsen in conflict with Western journalists in North Korea
• Bjørnar Simonsen's blogg (removed as of May 26, 2007)
• LinkedIn profile (removed as of May 26, 2007)
• (Norwegian) Orwell, Pyongyang og Bjørnar Simonsen. the blog of Birger Emanuelsen