Educational Challenges in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Written by Alexandra Drugescu-Radulescu

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, known as well as North Korea, is one of the most oppressive systems in the world. It is a dictatorship with a bad track record in respecting human rights, access to education included. An important aspect to remember is that the country’s regime stems from the Juche ^[1]ideology, which has at its center auto sufficiency and lack of communication with the external world. Therefore, the amount of data on the actual actions of the government in DPRK is limited, impacting the quantity of information in this article. The following testimony, of one of the survivors of the regime that imposes child labor, suggestively portrays the everyday fight of North Korean citizens:

“There were also soldiers who worked with us as well. They made us work harder. They could start their work only after we finished our tasks, so they made us hurry. When boys got angry and acted impolitely to the soldiers, they were beat up.” – Koo Dong-Su ^[2]

 

North Korean school system has three stages: Elementary and Middle and High School^[3]. At least in theory, North Korea has a series of internal documents that should ensure children are protected. One of them is the North Korean Children’s Rights Protection Act (2010), which supposedly prioritizes the well-being and happiness of children. Furthermore, the state`s constitution promotes free education^[4].  However, from the reports created by various organizations, one thing is clear: there is a very problematic infringement of human rights on the North Korean people, and the field of education is included. As one would expect, problems in North Korea regarding access to education are vaster and more internalized than in other countries. Problems include severe breaches of human rights, such as child labor.

Treaty accession

 

As previously stated, North Korea is a dictatorship, in which human rights are not the regime`s priority. Unsurprisingly, because of its policy of self-sufficiency, the state is not a member of various treaties meant to protect citizens. While signing a treaty does not guarantee the respect of the clauses, it portrays the willingness of the people in power to at least account for international norms. A proliferation of treaties concerning children’s rights took place in the 20th century, with documents that highlight the importance of education for the fruitful development of youngsters.

North Korea is heavily criticized for its refusal to sign documents that, at least in the eyes of international law, would prevent the regime from infringing human rights. The regime still insists that resolutions of the UN are just the product of the policy of “hostile” Member States ^[5](2023 report).

In the Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, under the UN Period Cycle Review, various organizations and international bodies urge North Korea to accede to various legal documents^[6]. A relevant request in the context of education rights comes from the Committee on the Rights of the Child. They recommend the State ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Family. Furthermore, UNESCO encourages the state to ratify the Convention against Discrimination in Education and to seek the support of UNESCO in implementing it. The names of these conventions might be overwhelming, but they were stated here to portray how far behind North Korea is situated in the talk of respecting the right to access education. While other states might try to improve their curricula or implement technology in the learning process, North Korea first has to ensure it can provide basic access to education, without discrimination.

Access to education

The population of North Korea is divided into different social statuses based on their affiliation with the government^[7]. This has implications not only for the standard of living of citizens but also for the access to education of children. Children from lower-status families are sometimes forced to pay informal school fees. They live as well in areas that lack educational infrastructure. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has information, although limited, on the situation of children from remote areas^[8]. A massive problem is the lack of educational facilities, schools in certain areas not being fully functional, therefore causing drop-out rates. Furthermore, the dire situation of the common North Korean, where basic survival becomes a privilege, puts children in a situation in which they have to work in order to support their families (report 2019).

The Committee on the Rights of the Children urges the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to implement comprehensive measures to develop inclusive education, regardless of social class^[9]. However, this recommendation, which promotes educational reform, could be hard to implement in such a closed state, with a regime that refuses any outside help in improving the quality of its educational system. Furthermore, UNESCO recommends the implementation of legislation that prohibits work for minors, in order to ensure children get to develop properly. Unfortunately, the non-binding character of these recommendations makes their chance of success less realistic.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on most countries around the world and the standard of living of the majority of people in North Korea is considered to have become particularly vulnerable during the pandemic, not only because of the disease but also of the strict closing of borders^[10]. Food scarcity increased throughout the country. The lack of access to basic resources pushed children to work in order to be able to survive. As explained in the previous section, the problems in North Korea are much deeper than in many other areas of the world, due to the looming threat of starvation. While this has been present for many years, the COVID-19 pandemic and the strong regulations caused by it intensified the ongoing trend of minors being forced by circumstances to do labor.

Child labor

As presented above, children throughout North Korea need to work to achieve basic sustenance. However, the problem of child labor is much more institutionalized than one would hope, despite the fact that according to the North Korean constitution child labor is forbidden^[11]. Educational institutions mobilize children for seasonal work that is unpaid and mandatory. One of the programs is “Agricultural Labour Support”, in which children go to work on local farms partnered with their schools. The North Korean economy is primarily based on agriculture, with almost no trade, which leads to a strong need for cheap labor. One of the so-called solutions found by the regime is the use of students for agricultural work. Besides the mobilization done by the state, a PSCORE report states schools themselves send independent students to work, in order to be able to finance the school. The North Korean government tries to excuse this blatant display of child labor with the pretense of instilling a work ethic in pupils. Children from rural areas are the ones that usually physically contribute to farm production.

Another widespread form of forced labor is the “Long-term Agricultural Labor Support”^[12]. Children do not just perform activities after school, but they have to remain within the perimeter of the farm for a certain amount of time, usually a couple of months during the harvesting season, to contribute to the state`s production. This is implemented regardless of the area of the country the child comes from, meaning that even children that study in cities need to go to a distant farm to perform agricultural labor.

A significant issue of this practice is that it is not only mentally and physically draining, but it can lead to severe injuries. The PSCORE report states that despite the North Korean Constitution, which promises access to free health care, injured children during agricultural work do not receive any medical treatment whatsoever^[13].

Furthermore, children receive corporal punishments if they do not comply with their obligations^[14]. In theory, North Korea`s Children’s Rights Protection Act of 2010 prohibits the physical punishment of children. Unfortunately, the reality is different. Students get harmed by their own teachers during the labor programs supported by the school. An institution that is supposed to be a safe environment, in which children can grow, becomes in North Korea a place of psychological and physical harm, in which everything is in the name of the regime.

This situation goes against well-established treaties, such as the International Labor Organisation Conventions on Child Labor. Both Convention No.138 on Minimum Age and Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour prohibit the forcing of children to do manual labor^[15]. However, North Korea is not a member of the International Labor Organisation or a signatory of its conventions, which makes it impossible to hold the state accountable in the face of international law. Nevertheless, the widespread practice of child labor in the country should be criticized as heavily as possible, given the repercussions on the well-being of youngsters and the impairment of their educational formation.

 The politicization of the school curricula

Even when children can attend classes, despite the obstacles presented above, the undemocratic character of the regime creates issues in terms of the subjects approached in school. An authoritarian state needs to derive its legitimacy from the support of the people, something done through various mechanisms, such as coercion. In North Korea, the cult of personality is a method of creating legitimacy for the regime. This has direct implications for the quality of education. The school curricula become a political instrument, children being taught more about the so-called greatness of their leader, than quality information. All schools demand students to be part of different organizations under the authority of the Youth League^[16]. The main aim of the Youth League is to offer ideological education, a process through which children are supposed to be indoctrinated from a young age to become supporters of the regime. Obviously, these organizations are supposed to respect the desires of the party, whose main aim is the mobilization of the population.

Conclusion

Despite the limited information on what happens inside its borders, it is clear that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea violates basic human rights. Amongst them, we can count education, which is probably one of the most forgotten areas in the country. Due to the scarcity of food and water, children are forced to contribute to sustaining the family. Even when children are able to attend school, they are used for free labor and shaped into becoming avid supporters of a regime that prevents them from reaching their full potential. Unfortunately, at the moment the problem of North Korea seems to be an unsolvable one.

 

References

• Human Rights Council Fifty-second session Agenda items 2 and 4 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Promoting accountability in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. (2023).
• Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Thirty-third session Compilation on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights I. Background II. Scope of international obligations and cooperation with international human rights mechanisms and bodies. (2019).
• Hyo-Kyung, L., Heidi Hee-Kyung, C., & Young-Il, K. (2018). Unending Toil: Child Labor      within North Korea (pp. 1-311, Rep.) (N. Bada, Ed.). Seoul, Republic of Korea: Y People for Successful COrean REunification.
• International Labour Organization. (2019). ILO Conventions and Recommendations on child labour (IPEC). Ilo.org. https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/ILOconventionsonchildlabour/lang–en/index.htm
• Lee, G. (2003). The Political Philosophy of Juche. Time, pp. 105-109.

Footnotes

^[1]https://www.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/korea1.pdf

^[2] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf

^[3] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf

^[4] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf

^[5] Human Rights Council Fifty-Second Session Agenda Items 2 and 4 Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Human Rights Situations That Require the Council’s Attention Promoting Accountability in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

^[6] (Human Rights Council Fifty-Second Session Agenda Items 2 and 4 Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Human Rights Situations That Require the Council’s Attention Promoting Accountability in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)

^[7] (Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Thirty-Third Session Compilation on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights I. Background II. Scope of International Obligations and Cooperation with International Human Rights Mechanisms and Bodies)

^[8] (Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Thirty-Third Session Compilation on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights I. Background II. Scope of International Obligations and Cooperation with International Human Rights Mechanisms and Bodies)

^[9] (Human Rights Council Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Thirty-Third Session Compilation on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights I. Background II. Scope of International Obligations and Cooperation with International Human Rights Mechanisms and Bodies)

^[10]  Human Rights Council Fifty-Second Session Agenda Items 2 and 4 Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Human Rights Situations That Require the Council’s Attention Promoting Accountability in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

^[11] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf

^[12] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf

^[13] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf

^[14] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf

^[15] https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/ILOconventionsonchildlabour/lang–en/index.htm

^[16] http://pscore.org/wp-content/uploads/Unending-Toil_Child-Labor-within-North-Korea-2018_PSCORE.pdf