Some recent graduates of North Korean high schools in Sinuiju are frustrated because they have no money to get into institutes of higher education, Daily NK has learned.
“This month, graduates of high schools in Sinuiju launched their adult lives in various places, including education-focused institutions like universities and vocational schools, but also workplaces and the military. But most of them are upset they didn’t get to go where they’d hoped,” a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According to the source, this year’s high school graduates were born in the years 2005 and 2006. Unlike their parents’ generation, they are voicing disappointment about not getting to freely choose their course in life.
Young people are very dissatisfied about the fact that higher education is out of reach unless they can afford to pay the increasingly expensive bribes required for admission to university or vocational school. Bribes for admission used to be around RMB 2,000 (around USD 276), which was already pretty steep, but now the least you can get away with is RMB 3,000 (around USD 413), the source explained.
In short, North Korean society’s economic inequality is leading many graduates to face limitations in their choice of career after completing their high school education.
“My family wasn’t well off, but I managed to keep up my grades,” said an 18-year-old male graduate of a high school in Sinuiju identified by the surname Han.
“I studied late into the night with the hope of getting into teaching college, but I never even got to take the admission exam. I’d foolishly assumed it was possible to get into college on talent alone, even without any money. I want this to be a country where you can get into college through talent, or at least for a fixed price, as in other countries,” he said.
Kim, aged 17, graduated from another high school in the city. “If you’re hard up for money, you end up digging in the mines, and farmer’s children have to keep working on the farm. I hate the fact that things are like that here. I wish this were a country where people could realize their hopes and dreams,” he said.
While military service is normally mandatory for North Korean men, there are plenty of ways to get out of it, provided that you have the financial resources, the source observed. The result is that only graduates from families without money or connections go to the military.
“I’m told that military service is only two years in South Korea and other countries. It’s the 21st century, but I can’t help feeling that we’re living in the Stone Age,” Kim said.
“When my friends get together, we talk a lot about military service and how soldiers are treated in other countries. People often say they wish [our military service] was shorter and that soldiers would get special treatment after finishing their service,” he said.
“People with money can find various excuses for not doing their military service or for getting out after a couple of years if they do enlist. In the end, only the children of penniless and helpless workers and farmers have to give the army nearly ten years of their youth.
“And then, after returning to civilian life, you don’t have any useful skills and you struggle in your career, too. I really wish this were a society where everyone was given equal opportunities based on their abilities.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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