students, indoctrination
“As one generation gives way to another and the revolution advances, our anti-imperial class consciousness should become ever more resolute,” the Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on July 29. The photograph shows young people attending a class at the Central Class Education Center in Pyongyang in Pyongyang. (Rodong Sinmun, News 1)

North Korean authorities have stepped up ideological indoctrination by increasing mandatory class-consciousness lectures for middle and high school students from monthly to weekly sessions since mid-October. Students in cities such as Hoeryong are expressing fatigue over the increased frequency of these indoctrination sessions.

According to a source in North Hamgyong Province recently, a lecture entitled “Reinforcing the Principles of Unwavering Class Consciousness and Class Struggle” was held for middle and high school students in Hoeryong on Nov. 2.

The lecturer urged the students to adhere to class consciousness. “We must resolutely defend what has been achieved through the blood of the revolution with the determination never to stop fighting against the enemies of the resolution and feel unending hatred for the imperialists and our class enemies,” the lecturer said.

“At the moment, the U.S. imperialists and their puppets in South Korea are constantly carrying out vicious plots to overthrow socialism, which our revolutionary heroes defended with their lives,” the lecturer said. “The young people of the DPRK, who have only heard stories of such exploitation and pressure and haven’t directly experienced the trials of war, must never forget the aggressive nature of our sworn enemies.

“Such examples aren’t hard to find – just look at South Korea’s provocative drone infiltration into Pyongyang last month, which shows how our enemies continue to plot against the republic and threaten the North Korean form of socialism,” the lecturer concluded, citing the drone incident as justification for North Korea’s recently introduced “two hostile states” narrative. 

Shift to South Korea bashing

The lectures typically last 45 minutes, after which the students in attendance go to breakout sessions where they are quizzed on the content of the lectures. But only a handful of students are able to answer the questions correctly, the source said.

“Students who don’t like what’s being said in the lecture are unlikely to pay attention. Everyone knows this, but the lectures are held anyway,” he pointed out. 

“The regime used to use the phrase ‘the American imperialists and their lackeys,’ but lately it’s ‘the American imperialists and their Korean puppets,” the source continued. “The authorities are putting a lot of energy into class-consciousness programs designed to foster hostility toward South Korea.”

The North Korean regime has cemented the hostile nature of inter-Korean relations by amending the constitution to define South Korea as an enemy state. Now, the regime is stepping up programs to inculcate hatred of South Korea in young people.

Lectures “baffling” to many

However, some students are reluctant to accept these indoctrination lectures or express confusion about them.

“Some students are baffled about how the unification North Korea had been demanding for decades could be thrown away overnight and how their fellow countrymen could all of a sudden be denounced as enemies deserving of eternal hatred,” the source said. 

“Other students whisper that the regime is trying to convince young people that South Korea is the enemy because they’re too enamored with South Korean movies and music to be deterred by law enforcement’s crackdown on such media.”

Meanwhile, some North Korean parents are urging their children to keep their lips sealed. “No matter how well you think you know someone, never share your true thoughts,” one parent said to their child, according to the source. 

He explained that many parents fear that, given the current political tensions, a young student’s politically charged remarks could spell disaster for the entire family.

Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.

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