▲ Kim Jong Suk Education University in Hoiryeong

In South Korea, cherry blossom festivals are being held throughout the nation with the start of spring. Korea is, like they say, a beautiful picture.

As I see the flowers lined up alongside classroom windows and watch students going to university, I remember the days when I was a university student in North Korea.

I attended university in North Korea during the early 90’s. Like all the universities outside the major cities, there weren’t any heating facilities at my university dorms.

If you put water into a kettle, the water freezes and the kettle would even burst. Unless you are extremely healthy, it is hard to live in such a room. It was great luck for any student to graduate in a healthy state after living in the university dormitories.

After spending a month at home during the winter, students return to the dorms on Feb 1st and then the battle with the cold begins. When you go to bed, you must wear socks and traditional Korean style padded socks. You have to wear padded gloves like the ones used by soldiers, beanies to cover your head and finally a blanket. Only then, if you are lucky, you will not get frostbite.

The moment you are off guard, your hands and feet become covered in frostbite. I had classmates who were not “completely armed (with socks, gloves and beanie)” when they slept. They were the ones to face a winter with frostbite.

As winter fades and spring arrives, your hands become red and swollen, and your hand oozes with puss. You cannot even hold a pen and hence you can no longer study.

As university officials are not in a fit position to help you, they send you an order to rest at home for a semester. Then, they promise you that your studies will resume once you are completely healed but no student ever returns.

After recovering from frostbite, no one has the courage to go back and live in the dorms. In the end, the students leave university with only a year left until graduation.

Students who had developed a strong attachment to study after 4 strenuous years of university and dormitory life, are left with only letters filled with tears.

University students in South Korea have great freedom compared to students in North Korea who have a fixed uniform. Men must wear military outfits whereas women wear the traditional Korean dress. As I see students in South Korean universities dressed in their own accord eating in the warm cafeterias, I also want to be a university student again.

In South Korea, university dormitories are well equipped with heating facilities and so students only wear pajamas to bed. I’m sure these students have no idea how difficult life is for university students in North Korea who are wary of kettles that may burst and have to wear padded socks and beanies to bed.

When will the time come for where university students in North Korea do not have to worry about their hands and feet freezing? Even today, university students in North Korea will be facing a brisk spring, huddling their bodies over as they enter the classrooms.