North Trying to
Attract New Teachers
Daily NK. 10/9/12 By
Kang Mi Jin
(DO- bob-ryun said kindergarten teachers in the
North is very competitive enough to export their skills if the government were
to do so)
The North Korean
authorities are trying to expand
the country’s pool of teachers as part of plans to establish a 12-year
system of compulsory education, it has been revealed. As part of the
effort, the level of qualification required to become a teacher has been
reduced, while those who are selected are being told they will receive
guaranteed state food distribution.
A source from the
northerly city of Hoiryeong in North Hamkyung Province told Daily NK on the
8th, “In early August a notice went up advertizing a round of qualification
checks for would-be teachers; and the education department did the tests
through mid-September.”
(DO- it looks like
that tippers are disproportionately from 회령.)
“The competition
was fierce; it rose to 8:1 in Hoiryeong following the news about a policy
of preferential treatment including food distribution,” the source said. “Every
teacher, even those who had been newly selected at Chuseok, was given 5kg of
grain. That’s a 15-day supply.”
North Korea used to
only allow Teacher’s College and College of Education graduates to become
teachers; however, many such qualified candidates left the field in the 1990s
and numbers have not risen substantially since then. To satisfy the demand for
new teachers, it appears that the requirments were reduced; one of those
who passed the recent checks was reportedly a middle school graduate working
for the local tobacco factory.
The North Korean
authorities are also said to be planning further rounds of hiring to meet
demand, the source said, explaining, “They are lacking teachers for
elementary school, which has been expanded from four to five years. The six
years of middle school has been divided into two with vocational classes added,
so demand is expected to increase more there too.”
The policy of
recruitment fits the plan outlined in Rodong Shinmun, the publication of the
Chosun Workers’ Party, on the 26th of last month. According to the piece, “We
plan to increase the intake into teacher training universities and develop
teaching labor organizations to meet the demand of the elementary school
transition from four years to five.”
Under the policy
adopted by the Supreme People’s Assembly on September 25th, elementary
school changes are supposed to go into effect in 2013, with the
division of middle school into two sections set to occur in 2014.
NK Surprise as
Economic Changes Disappear
Daily NK. 10/9/12 By
Kim Kwang Jin
The North Korean
people are beginning to ask questions about the fact that talk of a package
of economic improvement measures slated for implementation at the start
of this month has disappeared from official meetings and
education session scripts.
A North Korean source
commented on the issue yesterday morning, saying, “All the economic
education and talk of policy implementation coming from higher up has stopped.
There has been no explanation as to why this is, and this has left all the
Party cadres round here in an awkward situation, not knowing how to deal with
it.”
The North Korean
authorities originally began to announce news of the new economic system
domestically in July, outlining increasing managerial autonomy, changes to
payment systems and new farm procurement regulations. There were even some less
detailed announcements on North Korea’s fixed line ‘3rd Broadcast’ system,
which is used to disseminate propaganda handed down from the very top of the
Party.
However, late last
month signs of abnormality began to appear. Although few local people thought
the measures would be publicly adopted at the extraordinary session of the
Supreme People’s Assembly on September 25th, the source said they didn’t expect
all references to the policy to disappear.
According to the
source, cadres suspect that the authorities are not yet prepared to roll out
the policy in practice. Many are not surprised; they say it was
impractical to expect the policy to be executed in just three months, given
that the July 1st Economic Management Improvement Measures of 2002 took nine
months to come to fruition after a policy statement was first issued
by Kim Jong Il on October 4th, 2001.
The surrounding
economic conditions are far from ideal, also. Since the announcement of the new
economic measures, North Korea's markets have been facing hyperinflation
conditions rooted in a sky-high Chinese Yuan exchange rate.
However, it is still
considered unlikely that the policy has been cancelled altogether, since that
would carry heavy consequences for regime legitimacy. Also, the authorities
have advertised the policy to the international community in a number of
stories (though not in the state media), and it would not serve the regime’s
purposes to lie openly about this particular issue.
In addition, it is
actually extremely rare for the authorities to cancel a policy after it has
been announced under any circumstances; in any case, sources continue to report
that those agencies charged with preparing the implementation of the new
economic measures are still operational. The current status of factories is being
assessed by units dispatched by the Party and the Cabinet is issuing new
production targets. Some factories are pursuing outside capital, and work to
consolidate under-performing enterprises is ongoing.
One example is
Chongjin Chemical Works. Recently, the factory entered a partnership with a
Chinese firm and changed its name to Chongjin Paper Factory. The factory is one
of Chongjin’s three major Level 1 enterprises, and has a workforce of 3,000.
However, it had actually been offline since the 1980s.
Roh 'Offered to
Surrender Northern Limit Line'
The Chosun Ilbo.
10/9/12
Roh is heard to tell
Kim that the South would no longer insist on the NLL and that problems
surrounding it would disappear if the waters around the maritime border are
turned into a joint fishing zone for the two Koreas, according to Chung.
Roh also told Kim that
he was "traveling around the world and working hard as North Korea's spokesman"
by spreading the view that the North had the right to nuclear arms, the
lawmaker added.
But former
unification minister Lee Jae-joung, who accompanied Roh to the summit, said
the claims are "ludicrous" and denied such comments were made by
the late president.
"Two meetings
took place on Oct. 3, 2007 -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon --
but former President Roh did not make any of the comments that Chung claims
were made," Lee said.
The Roh Moo-hyun
Foundation also issued a statement
denying secret pacts were made and calling the alleged comments
"fabricated."
