Remote education starts to spread in the provinces
North Korean regime is putting efforts to expand the range of remote education to provinces, with a purpose of enhancing nationwide workers performance. However, his remote education policy faces feasibility issues (Image: Rodong Sinmun)
Defectors imagine a day when they might be able to have video calls with their families in North Korea via Zoom.
It is a hope that stems from the North Korean government’s emphasis on remote education.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, online classes became a common part of daily life worldwide. This was not exactly the case in North Korea. The idea of remote education seems unrealistic given that Internet penetration is only 0.07% of the approximately 25 million population. That is the lowest among 238 countries.
Despite this, however, on July 16, Rodong Sinmun, the official party newspaper, reported that officials and workers in the Kyongsong area of North Hamgyong Province, where the Kim family’s villas are located, are included in a new remote education system.
“Many workers are now part of this system, acquiring scientific and technological knowledge and making significant contributions to the development of their country,” the paper said. “In Orang County and Kyongsong County, where modern local industrial factories are being established, local industry officials and workers are part of the remote education system, building a high tower of knowledge while working.”
The newspaper also emphasized that officials and workers there are showing special zeal for the new system. “Their enthusiasm for remote education is steadily increasing, and their knowledge levels are significantly improving,” it noted.
This development can be interpreted in two ways. “It might be evidence that the scientific and technological advancements emphasized by Kim Jong-un are actually being realized,” said Choi, a defector who majored in computer science at KimChaek University of Technology.
“Or, given it’s in Kyongsong and Orang counties, rather than in Pyongyang or other large cities, is likely due to the unique regional characteristics of these areas,” he said.
Choi pointed out that Kyongsong County is included in the ‘20×10 Regional Development Policy‘ announced this year, which aims to build local industrial factories in 20 counties annually for the next ten years.
“I understand they are building fish processing factories in coastal areas like Kyongsong and Orang,” he said. “Remote learning is likely advantageous for training the relevant personnel.”
Emphasis on knowledge-based workers
Remote education began in universities with the adoption of a law during the 3rd Session of the 14th Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly in April 2019. Over 130,000 workers are being educated remotely at Kim Il-sung University, KimChaek University of Technology, Han Duksu Pyongyang University of Light Industry, and other institutions.
The learning is primarily aimed at adults working in factories and enterprises, and on farms, allowing them to receive a university education.
In contrast to cyber universities in the United States or South Korea, North Korea’s remote education departments are integrated within existing universities. For example, farm workers study through the remote education department of a College of Agriculture, while educators study through a similar remote education department of a College of Education.
KimChaek University of Technology, the top college for science and engineering in 2010, was the first to establish a remote education department. It has the largest number of students, most of whom study information technology, electrical engineering, and automation.
The regime has stated that any citizen who owns a computer or portable communication device connected to the national network can receive remote education.
The Remote Education Law mandates that local People’s Committees and relevant institutions, enterprises, and organizations provide the necessary conditions for students to receive education remotely in places like libraries, and to equip these places with the required facilities.
However, unlike the typical remote education in South Korea or the United States, in North Korea it happens at the workplace rather than at home. This difference explains why some experts question the feasibility of the remote system in North Korea.
More generally, the surge in remote education stems from Kim Jong-un’s emphasis on “making the entire population scientifically and technologically talented.” The constitution was revised in 2019 to include this goal.
“Although the single-leader system persists in North Korea under Kim Jong-un’s rule, the socio-cultural system has faced a decline in public trust due to the famine and the spread of individualism that prioritizes materialism over ideology,” said Lee Woo-young, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“To adapt to the changing environment, Kim Jong-un has pursued strategic changes like ‘people first’ policies at the economic, social, and cultural levels,” he said. “Regional balance at the social level, strengthening science and technology education, and the spread of the remote education system can be seen as part of this change.”
Jia defected from North Korea in search of basic freedoms, including the right to travel and freely express herself. Her identity as a North Korean has given her a sense of responsibility to represent the voices of her family and hometown friends and is also the reason she has chosen to work as a journalist.
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