Enjoying Benefit of Free Education System

Pyongyang, 10 December 1999 (KCNA) -- In the DPRK where a free education system is in force, all people are at their books. Eighteen members of Ri Jin Sil's family living in Chilgol-dong no. 3, Mangyongdae district, Pyongyang, are graduates of universities including Kim Chaek University of Technology, Korean University of Physical Education, Pyongyang University of Music and Dance and Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies.

Before Korea was liberated from Japanese rule in August 1945, children's education was one of the Korean people's cherished wishes. Having lost her husband at the age of 26, Ri tried to give her children bright hopes of education. But her dream became attenuated in the face of realities under Japanese colonial rule. It was not until Korea's liberation that her age-long dream was realized. The same is true of the family of Jang Pok Sun in Puksae-dong, Moranbong district, Pyongyang. Her six children's couples finished the university course. The introduction of a completely free and universal education system in 1959 was an epochal event in fulfilling the Koreans' long-cherished desire for their children's education. Measures were taken to provide full conditions for free education. Schools were built or rebuilt, and highly qualified teachers and educational apparatuses provided to schools.

Buses, boats and trains are available exclusively for children in areas far away from school location. Well-equipped educational facilities including the Grand People's Study House are found everywhere. Thanks to the most advantageous public education system having been put into effect, the DPRK can be called a country of learning. Present-Korea has nearly two million intellectuals produced from its own bases for cadre training. The launch of the first artificial earth satellite and the rapid development of hi-tech in every sector of the national economy are the feat of a free education system.

North Korea's Educational Policy

By Choi Eun-soo, a professor at Soongsil University in Seoul. (December, 1996)

I. Characteristics

Education in North Korea can be characterized by its thorough indoctrination programs designed to nurture the students into communist revolutionaries who are equipped with Juche-oriented thought and creativity. North Korean scholars emphasize the importance of Juche Ideology, saying, "Juche Ideology is the guiding principle for carrying out socialist education. It provides the ideological and pedagogical basis of education, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea tries to materialize the guiding principle of the great Juche Ideology in all sectors."1)

The importance of "study training" is emphasized in particular. North Korea says that study training seeks to remove all backward elements in ideology and culture from the minds of the people, and thus to remodel them into communist-oriented human beings armed with a new "revolutionary outlook on the world."2) In North Korea all the people, from children to aged persons, are spurred on to devote themselves to the study of Juche Ideology with revolutionary attitudes.3)

The above remarks indicate that education in North Korea aims at producing human tools for the communist-socialist construction. Peters tries to distinguish education from training, saying that "education is a course of cognition designed to bring about changes in one's sense of judgement," therefore, it has nothing to do with the means to achieve a certain purpose, but training means to tame the people to grasp a specific situation and to show a proper response to the situation." Therefore it becomes a means to achieve certain purposes.4) If Peters' theory is adopted, education in North Korea must be regarded as belonging to the category of training rather than genuine education.

II. The Institutional Thought Structure

The pedagogic principles stipulated in the "Thesis on Socialist Education" (allegedly presented by Kim Il-sung on September 5, 1977, during the 14th session of the 5th-term Party Central Committee) have formed the basis for the North Korean educational policy making to decide overall fundamental principles regarding education. According to this thesis, socialist education aims at nurturing the people into creative communist revolutionaries, and the fundamental principles of socialist education are to enable the people to arm themselves with a communist revolutionary spirit as well as with wide-range of scientific knowledge and healthy physical conditions, thus to convert them into members of the working class.

The guiding principles for conducting socialist education include 1) the materialization of the Party and the working class consciousness, 2) the establishment of Juche in education, 3) the combination of education and revolutionary practice, and 4) the government's responsibility for education. The educational curricula must consist of 1) political indoctrination programs to inculcate the students with Juche Ideology and to arm them with communist virtues, 2) general subjects to help the students attain scientific knowledge and 3) physical exercise programs to promote their physical condition, thus to enable them to contribute themselves to the strengthening of labor productivity and the national defense capability.

But among them the ideological indoctrination program must receive the first emphasis. Regarding the pedagogy, the thesis emphasizes the importance of the indoctrination of teachers, the harmony between theory and practice, the combination of education with productive activities, a collectivist attitude as members of organizations, the harmony of school education and social education, and the harmonized enforcement of preschool education, school education and adult education.

But the process of adopting educational principles has been always dominated by the preoccupied institutionalized thought structure derived from the following ideologies.

1. Marxism-Leninism

Upon the inauguration of the government, North Korea adopted Marxism-Leninism as its official ideology, with
particular emphasis on its theory encouraging the proletarian struggle against the bourgeois.

According to Marx, the pattern of private ownership depends on the economic circumstances of society, and changes in economic circumstances instigate a dialectical conflict between the exploiting class and the exploited class. In this case the exploiting class endeavors to mobilize all available resources to protect its vested rights; however, such endeavors are destined to result in failure. Consequently, the socialist class will attain the final victory, and will come to dominate all means of production, thereby forming new political and cultural conditions in its favor.

Marx also says that when the proletarian class grasps power, there comes a society ruled solely by the proletarian class, and all classes other than the proletarian class will disappear. Then the society will come to possess higher productivity, peace and happiness, with no poverty at all. He also insists that when all states are converted into socialist ones, then the borderlines among states will disappear and a unified ideal state will come to replace the existing capitalist states.

Marx tried to embody this theory in school education especially in technical schools which had emerged as educational institutes for the masses following the industrial revolution in England. Lenin, after the success of the communist revolution in Russia in 1917, tried to materialize this thought through reforms in education. Lenin branded the old educational system in Russia an egoist and anti-social one and advocated its replacement with a class-oriented one under centralized control.

2. North Korean Revolutionary Tradition, Anti-Imperialism and Anti-Capitalism

Education in North Korean "revolutionary tradition," which in fact refers to the history of Kim Il-sung's
anti-Japanese struggles in the 1930s, began in 1961 following the decision of the 4th Workers Party Congress
in September that year. The North Korean definition of the revolutionary tradition is as follows:

The revolutionary tradition was inherited from the flames of revolutionary struggles led by the outstanding Suryong (Leader Kim Il-sung), and this is the historical origin and the most precious asset of the Party and revolution. This brilliant revolutionary tradition was established when Great Leader Comrade Kim Il-sung began to advance along the path of revolution and led the Korean revolution to victory.... The essence of the revolutionary tradition includes the Juche-oriented ideological system he established, and his communist-style revolutionary spirit, immortal revolutionary achievements, precious experiences in struggles, and revolutionary way of carrying out all work. Among them his Juche-oriented ideological system and communist-style revolutionary spirit must receive priority.... Our Party's revolutionary tradition is the most superior revolutionary tradition in the world because it embodies Juche-oriented thoughts and methods, and it provides the ideological basis as well as vitality and strong pull.5)

The methods to indoctrinate the people with this tradition are explained as follows: The spirit of this tradition must be put into practice in all sectors of life under the catch phrase, "All Activities, From Production and Study Training to Routine Lives, Must be Conducted in an Anti-Japanese Guerilla Style." It is important to produce various revolutionary movies and revolutionary novels embodying the spirit of the revolutionary tradition and to utilize these materials in a practical way.... We must continue to improve the status of all revolutionary battle grounds, revolutionary historical sites, and revolutionary historical museums, which embody the Great Leader's glorious revolutionary history and achievements, and use them as the basis for organizing indoctrination programs to teach the workers and the rising generation."6) This tradition has been the basis of anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, anti-U.S., anti-Japanese and anti-South Korean sentiments which are presented in all school textbooks.

3. Juche Ideology

The word "Juche," was used for the first time in North Korea on December 28, 1955, when Kim Il-sung, during a meeting of Party members in the propaganda and agitation sector, made a speech entitled, "On Expelling Dogmatism and Formalism, and Establishing Juche in Ideological Projects." Since then the concept of Juche had begun to be systematized in the form of ideology, and the Workers' Party, during its 6th Congress in 1980, declared a catch phrase which says, "the Jucheization of the Entire Society."

Later in 1982, Kim Jong-il, in a thesis, "On Juche Ideology," gave following definitions to the philosophical principles, the principles of social history, and the guiding principles of Juche. First, Kim Jong-il says that the Juche Ideology has been based on the philosophical principles that human beings are the masters of all things: the world is made up of materials, and human beings must dominate and remake them, and that human beings are the most developed material beings; therefore, they must be characterized by their self-determined nature, creativeness and consciousness. With these arguments Kim Jong-il insists that Juche is a human-centered philosophy, but noteworthy is that the human beings in this case do not refer to individuals but to the masses who play the master's role in the socialist revolution and construction. In this context, Juche should be regarded as a collectivism-oriented idea embodying the class-struggle theory, instead of the alleged human-centered concept.

Second, Kim Jong-il tries to explain the principles of social history by saying that the masters of history are the working people and that the essence of history must be defined as history of the class struggles in which the masses fought for their Jajusong (self-reliance or independence). He insists that the propelling power of history is rooted in the masses' Jaju-oriented consciousness.

Third, regarding the guiding principles, Kim Jong-il emphasizes Juche (self-reliance or subjectivity) in ideology, Juche (independence) in politics, Juche (self-sustenance) in economics, and Juche (self-defense) in defense. Kim Jong-il also presented a theory of the so-called "Revolutionary Outlook on the Leader," which says that though the masses are the masters of history and revolution, they are not able to play the role of masters unless the leader organizes them into revolutionary forces and gives them necessary instructions to carry out the revolution, and therefore the masses are required only to obey the Leader unconditionally. Kim Jong-il also presented a theory of the "Immortal Socio-Political Body," which says that the Leader, the Party and the masses form one socio-political body which is immortal, and the center, or brain, of this immortal body is the Leader; therefore, the masses must obey unconditionally the instructions the Leader has given them.

III. Changes in Educational Policies

It should be said that socialist education in North Korea began only in 1948 because the socialist government in North Korea came into being in September that year. But North Korea maintains that the origin of this education must be traced back to May 1930 when the Kim Il-sung-led "Fatherland's Restoration Committee" announced the so-called "10-point Program" which called for the abolishment of slave labor and slave education, and for education in the Korean language, among other issues.7) In official terms, the guidelines regarding socialist education in North Korea were presented for the first time in 1946 by the provisional People's Committee of North Korea. In a document entitled, the "Decision on the Improvement of School Education" (March 25, 1946), the committee called for the liquidation of the remnants of colonial education and for the establishment of a new communist system in education.8)

North Korea, imitating the Soviet model, began to enforce an educational system designed to operate a 5-year course in primary schools, 3-year courses in junior and senior high schools, respectively, a 3-year course in junior colleges, and a 4-year course in colleges and universities. In 1950 North Korea made primary school education compulsory.9)

The school curricula were organized in such a way as to indoctrinate the students thoroughly with communist and collectivist ideas. North Korea in 1953, when it launched a 3-year postwar rehabilitation program, applied a "compulsory work system" to schools, under which primary schoolchildren were mobilized for labor 10 days a year, junior high school students for 2 to 4 weeks, senior students of technical high schools for 5 months, and college students for 3 months each. Since then ideological importance in school education has been emphasized repeatedly on various occasions, for example, in the form of a Party's resolution ("On Intensifying the Class Indoctrination" April 1955), or through Kim Il-sung's speech ("On Communist Education," 1958). In 1953, the primary school term was reduced to 4 years, and the 7 years of education up to junior high school was made mandatory. In the meantime, North Korea set up technical junior high schools in major factories and farm villages.

In the 1960s, North Korea intensified ideological indoctrination in schools in order to emphasize the monolithic
leadership of Kim Il-sung and to enhance technical education at the same time. North Korea also began to operate special schools, such as art and athletic schools and the institute for the bereaved family of revolutionary warriors. As part of efforts to intensify technical education, North Korea began to operate such vocational schools as factory colleges. The 9 years of education was made compulsory in 1967, and in 1972 the compulsory period was extended to 11 years (1 year in kindergarten, 4 years in primary school, and 6 years in junior and senior high schools.) In 1976, North Korea promulgated a "law on the education of children" intended to indoctrinate very young children with Kim Il-sung's revolutionary tradition and monolithic leadership.

In 1980, when Kim Jong-il was officially named successor to Kim Il-sung, the North Korean educational authorities launched various indoctrination program to strengthen the personality cult of the junior Kim. Since then North Korean educational policies have sought to justify the father-to-son hereditary succession plan, and they have been placed under the direct supervision of Kim Jong-il himself. For example, college students were told to make oaths of loyalty which said, "we will follow Kim Jong-il as sunflowers follow the sun." Recently, Kim Jong-il instructed that "we must put screens around us in order to prevent any pagan ideologies other than Juche from infiltrating into our society." Following these instructions, the subjects regarding the history of the former Soviet Union and East European countries were deleted from textbooks for senior high school students.10)

From 1948 to the present North Korea's educational policies have undergone several changes in appearance, but their emphasis on ideology, technology, animosity, and the North Korean form of socialism has remained intact fundamentally. This is because the North Korean educational authorities are still occupied with the institutionalized thought structure mentioned above.

IV. The Policy-Making Process

North Korea's educational policies are decided through the following process:11)

First, Kim Il-sung's instructions are the most important norm to decide the policies. North Korean educational officials have exploited the religious instinct of human beings to make the people believe in the greatness and absoluteness of Kim Il-sung, or his godhood. In fact, Kim Il-sung had enjoyed absolute power for more than four decades by using Juche ideology in harmony with oriental-style sentiments regarding loyalty, filial piety and patriarchy. Though he has died, he still remains the absolute leader of North Koreans, and the instructions he left behind are still observed as unchallengeable guidelines for all citizens to abide by. North Korean school curricula have been designed to embody all of Kim Il-sung's instructions.

Second, the Supreme People's Assembly (North Korea's rubber-stamp Parliament) also enacts pertinent laws and regulations. Among them are the "Laws on Compulsory Elementary Education" (September 10, 1949), the "Decision on the Preparation for Enforcing Compulsory Junior High School and Technical Education" (October 2, 1958), and the "Decision to Enforce 10 years of Compulsory Education and 1 Year of Preschool Education" (April 9, 1973). Under the old constitution, the parliamentary decisions had been proclaimed under the names of the chairman and chief secretary of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, but under the new constitution (since 1992) they are announced under the name of the president.

Third, the Central People's Committee also promulgate related decrees, for example, the "Regulations on Colleges" (cabinet decision "No. 190," December 22, 1949), the "Decision on Compulsory Elementary Education and the Enforcement of Related Laws" (cabinet decision "No, 6," November 1, 1950), the "Decision to Abolish Tuition Fees" (cabinet decision "No. 18," March 2, 1959).

Fourth, Kim Jong-il's written instructions or speeches are also regarded as important norms in mapping out educational policies especially since the 1980s when he emerged as the official successor to his father. Based on his instructions, the Party Congress decides the fundamental policy line of education and the Party Central Committee maps out the educational programs, and then the Educational Department of the Party issues detailed guidelines.

These decisions are strictly enforced under the principles that 1) Party members must obey the decisions of the Party (the principle of the superiority of the organization), 2) the minority must obey the decisions of the majority (the principle of the majority rule), 3) the lower Party echelon must obey the higher Party echelon (the principle of the priority of higher Party organization), and 4) all party organizations must obey the Party Central Committee (the principle of centralization). In this way North Korea's educational policies are initiated by a policy-maker in the central organization who predetermines the effect of the policies, and therefore the education service delivery units are only given the responsibility for putting into practice the guidelines swiftly and faithfully.12) But the scope of the autonomous rights of these units to approach various problems and to work out their own remedies will be extremely limited.

One noteworthy fact is that all decisions made by either the parliament or the Party are in fact represent the instructions given by Kim Il-sung or Kim Jong-il. This is because the country is ruled by a one-Party system. Under this system, a dictatorial leader will be a "rational actor," as pointed out by Allison, in making reform-oriented or revolutionary choices, but others surrounding the leader will be excluded from making decisions.13)

The policy-making process also reflects the fact that educational policies in North Korea are mapped out in accordance with the inflexible, centralized, and arbitrary decisions of a dictator, and in a way of implementing his revolution-oriented institutional thought structure. This trend still prevails in North Korea even after the death of Kim Il-sung. The North Korean authorities place special emphasis on ideological indoctrination programs to prevent the aftereffects of the reforms in East European countries from infiltrating into North Korea. Kim Jong-il has been spurring Party officials responsible for ideological affairs to intensify the ideological campaigns, saying "any relaxation in indoctrination will free the people from worries and allow them to indulge in a quiet way of living, then the revolutionary zeal will fade from their minds and they will come to pursue easy lives.14)

Notes

1) Li Yong-bok, Education in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Pyongyang:
The Social Science Publishing House, 1984).
2) Kumsung Chongryon Publishing Company, Juche-oriented Study Training
(Pyongyang, 1982), p. 20.
3) A Selection of Kim Il-sung's Works, Vol. 7 (Pyongyang: The Workers' Party Press,
1978), p. 383.
4) Peters, R.S., Ethics and Education (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1966), pp.
31-34.
5) Encyclopedia (Pyongyang: 1983), pp. 667-668.
6) Ibid.
7) Education of People (Pyongyang: Teachers' Newspaper Company, April 1967), p. 5.
8) Kim Hyong-chan, Education in North Korea (Seoul: Ulyu Munhwasa, 1990), p. 116
9) Ibid.
10) Naewoe Press, Weekly, No. 771 (November 22, 1991).
11) Kim Jong-chul, "North Korean Education Policies," North Korean Pedagogy (Seoul:
Ulyu Munhwasa, 1977), pp. 91-94.
12) Elmore, R.F., "Backward Mapping: Implementation Research and Policy Decision,"
Political Science, Quarterly, Vol. 94, No. 4, Winter, 1979-80, pp. 15-17.
13) Allison, G.T., The Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (1971).
14) The North Korean Central Broadcasting Station, June 21, 1995.

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