[imText1]The North Korean Worker’s Party closed the National Intelligentsia Competition, after the two-day event which was held since the 30th of November at the April 25 Cultural Hall, on the 1st.
This was the first time in 15 years that North Korea’s intellectuals gathered in one place since the “Chosun (North Korea) Intelligentsia Competition” held in December 1992.
The Rodung Shinmun stressed in an editorial on the 28th called, “Intellectuals are a Mighty Power for Building a Strong Nation,” “Chosun intellectuals are ardent revolutionaries who have walked thousands miles of the Military-first Revolution, following the magnificent Party. They are patriotic fighters who do not fear anything if it is the Party and the country calling.”
The editorial upheld, “Our intellectuals are true comrades of the Military-first Revolution who will forever accompany the Dear General regardless of rain or snow. They are just leaders and pioneers of society.” “They are the advance guards of fire in the era of the military-first.”
However, the destitute realities of North Korea’s intellectuals are hidden behind the brilliant curtain of the intelligentsia competition.
Many intellectuals perish during the food shortage of the `90s
During “The March of Tribulation,” a period of mass starvation in the 1990’s that resulted in millions of deaths, many intellectuals singularly perished. This is because they were often too high-minded to take to menial labor that would have facilitated their survival. Therefore, as the distribution of food rations dwindled and desisted, the intellectuals were the first to suffer.
At the end of the 1990s, a married couple living in Ranam District, Chonglin, both doctors of metallurgy engineering, starved to death in their home. The old doctor who was officially recognized by North Korean metallurgy circles, slowly starved to death in his apartment when provisions were cut off, but no one dropped by to even check in on them. They who had gotten accustomed to the provision system for 50 years waited each day, having faith in the words that provisions will resume soon.
In the cities, including Hamheung and Pyungsung, where many scientists live, there are many families of intellectuals who were hit by the food shortage or died from starvation. Nowadays, high school teachers and even college professors cannot sustain their livelihoods without doing business in the market.
One professor at Chongjin Mining and Metallic College has been selling noodles in the market in order to get by. After teaching students at the university rostrum in the morning, going out the market in the afternoon is the reality of North Korea’s intellectuals.
The fundamental reason for the difficult lives North Korean intellectuals have is their dependence on provisions, but national provisions are not reliable. Also, due to the “Intellectual Revolution” decree, the intelligentsia is absolutely tied to the organizational life, unable to freely engage in selling as average citizens. After the July 1st Economic Management Reform Measure in 2002, the salary of university professors was between 2,000~4,500 North Korean won (approx. USD0.6~1.4). Currently, 1 kg of rice in North Korea costs 1,300 won. In other words, the salary of professors is equivalent to the price of 2~3kg of rice.
Although college professors in the provinces can engage in sale, if intellectuals in Pyongyang are reported while doing so, they have to write confessions and undergo background reviews. Accordingly, if the wives of college professors do not trade, there is no way that professors can sustain their lives.
Kim Il Sung University Professor below “Refrigerated Car Driver?”
Before the 1990s, university professors had honor as intellectuals. However, with the food shortage, their honor became scraps of paper. In actuality, the occupations most despised by North Korean people are university professors and doctors. When people select spouses, women will not even meet a college professor.
The following event took place in the 1990s. When a professor at Kim Il Sung General University went to meet a potential spouse, he was turned down by the woman. He asked her, “You said there was someone who had better qualifications than me. What is his profession?” The woman replied, “He is a refrigerated car driver.” This anecdote spread throughout Pyongyang and North Korean citizens lamented, “The status of a professor from a top university is lower than a driver’s.”
After the food shortage, the phenomenon of North Korean college students not taking their college professors seriously unfolded. College professors, who led difficult lives, would take cigarettes or money against their will from the students during test periods and raise the grades of students.
North Korea’s economic crisis produced a sad portrait of intellectuals.
