North Korea has dramatically increased the frequency of ideological indoctrination lectures for young people ahead of the Ninth Party Congress. However, young people are skeptical, complaining of extreme fatigue from the forced indoctrination intended to instill unilateral loyalty.
According to a Daily NK source in South Hamgyong province recently, Hamhung Wood Processing Factory’s Socialist Patriotic Youth League (SPYL) organization has held weekly lectures to mark the 80th anniversary of the SPYL’s founding on Jan. 17.
The lectures, conducted by the SPYL and other worker organizations, are usually held once a quarter, but some organizations have—rather unusually—held them weekly as the Ninth Party Congress looms.
“Ahead of major political events, such organizational lectures had been held once a month plenty of times, but this time, it’s different,” the source said. “In the case of the Hamhung Wood Processing Factory’s SPYL organization, they are holding them once a week, and young people are exasperated.”
“See Ninth Party Congress slogans in their dreams”
The lectures led by the Hamhung Wood Processing Factory’s SPYL organization repeatedly stress that “young people of the current age should take the lead in greeting the Ninth Party Congress as the vanguard of the great Kim Jong Un era,” the source said. Basically, they highlight the vanguard role and social responsibility of young people ahead of the Ninth Party Congress.
The lectures also repeatedly mention that young people should learn from “the martyred veterans who lost their lives in overseas military operations” and the “iron spirit of struggle of soldiers devoted to the Fatherland.” This appears aimed at fostering a spirit of sacrifice and loyalty among young people.
However, contrary to the government’s hopes, young people complain they are tired of the lectures.
“The authorities are raising the intensity of youth ideological activities that assert the vanguard role of youth ahead of the party congress, but as soon as somebody tells young people to gather for a lecture, everyone whispers how bothersome it is,” the source said.
Young people at factories in Hamhung complain that “it’s so bad that they see Ninth Party Congress slogans in their dreams,” that they “sigh whenever they stand in front of a red banner with ‘Ninth Party Congress’ written on it,” and that the lectures “repeat the same thing every time, so they’re sick and tired of them,” the source said.
Because of this, people say ideological indoctrination of youth can backfire.
“The more intensive the ideological campaign, the more young people resent it,” the source said. “This twofold attitude—outwardly, young people pretend to accept it, but inwardly, they’re unhappy with being coerced to sacrifice and show loyalty with nothing to show for it—could take permanent root.”
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