Professors at Chong Jun Taek University of Economics have aroused controversy by avoiding students’ questions or forbidding students from asking questions at all, Daily NK has learned.
Located in Wonsan, Kangwon Province, the school is regarded as having North Korea’s top economics program.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a Daily NK source in Kangwon Province reported on Monday that professors at the university had been facing a barrage of questions from students who are comparing what they are learning in their classes with the reality around them.
According to the source, students at Chong Jun Taek University of Economics were asking pointed questions while learning about the socialist planned economy and the capitalist market economy.
One problematic question was posed by a second-year student in the economics department at Chong Jun Taek University of Economics in early May.
“Since the planned economy of socialism is a system in which everything is controlled and run by the state, the food supply can break down – something we’re seeing right now – when the state doesn’t distribute rations. But in the market-oriented economy of capitalism, individuals are paid according to the amount they work. Doesn’t the capitalist economic approach strike you as being more logical?”
That led to a severe reprimand from the professor, who said that “it’s wrong to even ask a question like that” and that the student had “studied in vain.” But the professor did not offer a decent response to the student’s question.
Other students in the class reportedly grumbled that the professor’s refusal to answer the question amounted to an acknowledgment that the market economy of capitalism was more logical.
“Young people can’t help but feel skeptical when they’re taught that the planned economy of North Korea is superior to the capitalist economic system. That’s because North Koreans are starving to death and they know from South Korean media that people are better off in capitalist countries,” the source explained.
“Since the professors are part of the same society, they have to dodge or shut down problematic questions from their students, since those questions could result in the professors themselves being prosecuted for thought crimes.
“Even if professors think there’s a problem with the socialistic economic system, they can’t make such remarks in public spaces. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for professors not to be able to speak their minds to their students.”
Chong Jun Taek University of Economics was established as the Wonsan University of Economics in 1960, renamed Chong Jun Taek University of Economics in 1990, and given its current name in 1997.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that a student who posed a problematic question to a professor was a “freshman.” In fact, the individual was a second-year student. The article has been revised to reflect this.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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