Daily NK has learned why Ri Kuk-chol, the minister of higher education and president of Kim Il Sung University, was replaced during the recent Third Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee after just five months on the job. After a party-led inspection of the education sector turned up several major problems, Ri was reportedly castigated for his irresponsibility as the man-in-charge and for his “attitude of self-preservation.”
A Daily NK source in North Korea said Wednesday that the ruling party’s Justice Department conducted “a full-scale inspection of all sectors including the judiciary” from the beginning of the year. In a comprehensive report submitted ahead of the plenary meeting of the Central Committee, the department noted “serious problems” in the education sector, which “handles efforts to educate future generations” – something to which “the party has attached great importance.” According to the source, Ri was replaced due to these “serious problems.”
Based on the source’s account, the Justice Department’s inspection revealed corruption in the admissions process for major universities in Pyongyang. The report criticized the Ministry of Higher Education for taking a “hands off approach” to corruption instead of formulating measures to fight it, particularly given that questions from the university entrance exams have been sold on the black market.
“All the questions on the entry exams to central universities such as Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang Medical University, and Kim Chaek University of Technology were sold this year, too,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The Justice Department submitted a 200-plus page report on the problem, listing all the prices of this year’s test questions it discovered in its inspection.”
According to the source, the report found that the Ministry of Higher Education turned a blind eye to the selling of test questions every year. This “irresponsible attitude” on the part of the ministry, the report said, caused “serious harm” by allowing children from rich families to enter major universities “unfairly.”
The Justice Department’s report also found that none of the children of cadres who are attending a Pyongyang university have volunteered for service in agricultural villages, despite the party’s emphasis – now more than ever – on the importance of agricultural production. As a result, those working in the education sector were slammed for behaving without “principles or conviction.”
Suffering from severe food shortages due to last year’s natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea has been constantly seeking better results in the agricultural sector by mobilizing all means at its disposal. North Korean leaders are stressing the importance of helping out in the villages in particular. The Justice Department’s report stated that educational institutions – which, it argued, should be taking charge of mobilizing students for agricultural efforts – are being paid to turn a blind eye while the children of the powerful shirk their agricultural responsibilities.
“As the agency in charge of dealing with these issues, the Ministry of Higher Education needed to step up and correct the problems, but [Ri] didn’t do anything with the documents his predecessor gave him,” said the source. “He didn’t try to directly ascertain the situation or come up with realistic measures to deal with it. The party blamed him for taking a lazy approach due to his lack of will, responsibility, and loyalty, and questioned his ability to manage the education of future generations in that way.”
Ultimately, Ri — who was appointed the president of Kim Il Sung University and Minister of Higher Education by the Supreme People’s Assembly in January — was sacked during last month’s plenary meeting of the Central Committee after less than half a year on the job. He is now working as a university professor.
Meanwhile, the source said Ri’s successor, Kim Sung-chan, has “few outstanding accomplishments.” Nonetheless, Kim is credited for his organizational skills and praised as a man “who doesn’t sit back and loiter.”
According to the source, Kim is generally believed to be a “trustworthy person with a sterling academic background who was recommended by Tae Hyong-chol, the former long-time president of Kim Il Sung University.”
