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North Korean Educational System: 1945 to Present

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Key P. Yang  and
Chang-Boh Chee
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Extract

An examination of the educational objectives of North Korea and the system which implements these objectives reveals the true image of a country only dimly perceived since it disappeared behind the Bamboo Curtain after its liberation from the Japanese in 1945.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 14 , June 1963 , pp. 125 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1963

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References

1 Kim Il-song Sonjip (Selected works of Kim Il-song) (Pyongyang: Choson Nodong-dang Ch'ulp'ansa, 1960), IV, p. 330.Google Scholar

2 Despite the efforts of the South Korean government this change-over to a Korean script has not yet been accomplished in South Korea.

3 Girls' schools exist now as technical schools.

4 Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1954 ed., II, p. 535.Google Scholar

5 Ibid. pp. 233, 399.

6 Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1954 ed., IV, p. 167.Google Scholar

7 Yi, , Nag-on, , “Inmin kyoyuk saop e tachan Konghwaguk chongbu ui sich'aek” (“The government policy on popular education”), Inmin, No. 8, 08 1956, p. 69.Google Scholar

8 The Academy of Sciences was established in 1952, but its influence and its development were impeded by the war years; therefore, it will be discussed briefly as an institution of the Post-Korean War period. Its activities are so important and complex that to do it justice a special study of the North Korean Academy of Sciences should be made.

9 Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1960 ed., IV, p. 335.Google Scholar

10 Ibid. p. 336.

11 Kim Il-song's clear nationalism in the quoted statement should not lead one to think of him as a kind of Tito. In the past seven years he has expressly stated that national Communism as founded by Tito's Yugoslavia was unacceptable. See, for instance, the handbook on North Korea entitled Democratic People's Republic of Korea (?1958), p. 294.Google Scholar See also Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1960 ed., Vol. 4, p. 326.Google Scholar

12 Kim instructed Korean women to dress in Korea's traditional costumes, not in the increasingly popular Western styles introduced by contact with Russia. Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1960 ed., IV, p. 336.Google Scholar

13 In addition to these forms of adoration, monuments, museums, and memorials have been erected in his honour and to preserve his personal belongings. Even a spot where he stayed overnight is preserved as sacred. These are all open to the public as “living classrooms,” as they are called. Furthermore, all North Korean publications take their cue from the words of Kim Il-song.

14 Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1960 ed., VI, p. 112.Google Scholar

15 Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1960 ed., V, p. 561.Google Scholar

16 Kim Il-song Sonjip, op. cit., 1960 ed., IV, p. 564.Google Scholar

17 Ibid. p. 427.

18 Choson T'ongsa (History of Korea) (Tokyo: Hagu Sobang, 1958), III, p. 441.Google Scholar

19 Choson Minbo (Korean People's Press) (Tokyo), 07 11, 1957, p. 1.Google Scholar

20 The policy of sending students abroad was designed to train highly specialised technicians who could not be trained in North Korea and was adopted out of necessity; since 1959, this policy of sending students abroad has been drastically cut down except in a few instances of special training.

21 This system is far more thorough and inclusive than the language programmes of either Russia or China. In Russia foreign languages are not introduced until the fifth grade. In Communist China language study is not undertaken until senior secondary school.

22 Kim Il-song sonjip, 1960 ed., VI, pp. 15–16.Google Scholar

23 It was disclosed by Kim Il, the First Deputy Premier, in his speech at the Fourth Congress of the Party on September 16, 1961.

24 The number of university students per 10,000 population in other countries is as follows: Communist China, 13; Japan, 73; South Korea, 57; the Soviet Union, 107; and the United States, 180. Bissell, Claude, “China makes big strides in education,” Washington Post, 09 30, 1962.Google Scholar

25 Pinnanun Ch'onghwa Hwihwanghan Chonmang (Radiant Aggrandisement and Glorious Future) (n.p.: 1961), p. 62.Google Scholar

26 Inmin Kyoyuk, No. 1, 01 1962, p. 3.Google Scholar

27 Radians'ke Prave, No. 6, 1961, p. 119.Google Scholar

28 Minju Choson (Democratic Korea), 11 25, 1957, p. 4.Google Scholar