<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19088"></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Book Antiqua; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 14pt" id=role_body bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document color=#000000 size=4 face="Book Antiqua">
<DIV><FONT size=4>Dear friends and colleagues,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>You'll be aware of reports</FONT><FONT size=4> that
North Korea is closing</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>its universities for the time being. As so often,
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>a </FONT><FONT size=4>strange story; </FONT><FONT size=4>one
wonders if it can be true.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Here is the best article that I have yet read about
this</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- f</FONT><FONT size=4>rom a source with which, to my shame,
</FONT><FONT size=4>I was </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>previously unfamiliar. Note the care taken to
check</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>out the story. Too often, as we know, sections of
the</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>"reptile press" will print any rumour about NK as
fact.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Who </FONT><FONT size=4>UWN? This is </FONT><FONT size=4>of wider interest. When Murdoch sold</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>the Times Higher Ed and Times Education
Supplements</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>to private equity, the new owners summarily
eliminated</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>most of the </FONT><FONT size=4>international coverage. Those
thus got rid of</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>founded UWN, as a free online resource. Tell your
friends.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Kind regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Aidan FC</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>(Full disclosure: I am quoted, but - more to the point - so
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>are those who reside there, or have very recently
visited.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=3>Aidan
Foster-Carter<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB>Honorary Senior Research
Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 8pt" lang=EN-GB> </SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 8pt" lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB>E</SPAN></EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic" lang=EN-GB>: <A title=mailto:afostercarter@aol.com href="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</A><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><A title=mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com href="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com">afostercarter@yahoo.com</A><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">W</SPAN></EM>: <A title=http://www.aidanfc.net/ href="http://www.aidanfc.net/">www.aidanfc.net</A><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=3>Flat 1, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>40 Magdalen Road, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Exeter, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Devon, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>EX2 4TE, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>England, <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>UK<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB>T:</SPAN></EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB> (+44, no 0)<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>07970 741307 (mobile);<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">01392 257753 (home)<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA" lang=EN-GB>Skype</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA" lang=EN-GB>: <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Aidan.Foster.Carter <EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">Twitter:</SPAN></EM> <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>@fcaidan <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>__________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top>
<DIV><A title=http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110630144003329 href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110630144003329"><FONT color=#000000>http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110630144003329</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Georgia><SPAN style="WIDOWS: 2; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; TEXT-INDENT: 0px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; WHITE-SPACE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); WORD-SPACING: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px" class=Apple-style-span><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 11px" class=Apple-style-span>
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%">
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,51,102); FONT-SIZE: 9pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold" class=fullstoryheading><FONT color=#000000 size=4>NORTH KOREA:
Learning stops as students sent to work</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 8pt"><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,102,153); FONT-SIZE: 8pt" class=fullstoryinfo>Yojana Sharma<BR>30 June 2011<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></SPAN><BR><BR></FONT></FONT>
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=420>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 8pt" height=1 vAlign=bottom background=http://www.universityworldnews.com/layout/UW/images/dotted_grey.gif align=left><FONT size=3><IMG alt="" src="http://www.universityworldnews.com/layout/UW/images/speck.gif" width=420 height=1></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(51,51,51); FONT-SIZE: 8pt" class=fullstorybody align=justify><FONT color=#000000 size=4 face="Times New Roman">Close watchers of North Korean affairs were
caught on the hop this week by reports that universities in the
hermit kingdom would be closed from 27 June for up to 10 months
while students are sent to work on farms, in factories and in
construction.<BR><BR>Diplomats in Pyongyang confirmed that students
were being drafted into manual labour on the outskirts of the city
until April next year to prepare for major celebrations to
commemorate the centenary of the late leader Kim Il Sung's birthday.
But they said this did not mean the closure of universities.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>Reports originating
in South Korea and Japan suggested that the Pyongyang government had
ordered universities to cancel classes until April next year,
exempting only students graduating in the next few months and
foreign students.<BR><BR>The reports said the students would be put
to work on construction projects in major cities and on other works
in a bid to rebuild the economy. This could indicate that the
country's food crisis and economic problems are worse than
previously thought.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>Experts on North
Korea said full-scale university closures would be unprecedented.
However, it was not unusual for students to be engaged in manual
labour, with the academic year sometimes shortened in order to send
students onto farms and construction sites.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>Peter Hughes,
British Ambassador to North Korea, told<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><I>University World
News</I><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>by email from
Pyongyang: "There has been no official announcement in DPRK
[Democratic People's Republic of Korea] about university students
being sent to carry out manual labour for the next 10 months, but I
can confirm that students from all the universities in Pyongyang
have been mobilised to work at construction sites in the outskirts
of the city until April 2012.<BR><BR>"Some two years ago the DPRK
announced that it would build 200,000 units of accommodation in the
city to ease the chronic housing shortage. To date only some 10,000
units have been built, so the students have been taken out of
universities in order to speed up the construction of the balance
before major celebrations take place in April 2012 to commemorate
the 100th birthday of the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il
Sung."<BR><BR>Universities are not closed as lecturers and
postgraduate and foreign students remain on campuses, Hughes said on
Thursday.<BR><BR>"The UK has an English language teacher training
programme at three universities in Pyongyang. The mobilisation of
the students should not affect this programme as the majority of
activity is focused upon teacher development and not teaching
students."<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>Charles Armstrong,
Director of the Centre for Korea Research at Columbia University who
returned from Pyongyang earlier last week, said he had visited two
state-run universities, Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek
University of Technology in Pyongyang, as well as the private
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) in the last
few weeks.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>At
the two public universities the vast majority of students were not
present, Armstrong told<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><I>University World
News</I>. "It is also a very busy time for rice transplanting and
you see a lot of young people in the fields."<BR><BR>However,
students were studying as normal at PUST, a postgraduate institution
funded by Korean-American and South Korean philanthropists that
teaches mainly engineering.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>"It is very hard to
get information in and out of the country and there may be some
confusion because every summer students have to go down to the
fields to help with the rice planting. It is not the first time that
I have heard reports that universities have shut down for a period,"
Armstrong said.<BR><BR>"My impression is that there is not a lot
going on in terms of teaching and studying in public universities
and student time is taken up with 'extra curricular' activities
including political education. This is a regular part of university
life but I have not heard of the universities being shut down
completely except for a short while during the 1990s [famine]," he
added.<BR><BR>A major famine and economic crisis in the late 1990s
meant that much farm equipment went unused and simply rusted in the
fields, so the need for manual labour has grown. Students and army
recruits are mobilised to help, often having to travel far from
where they live.<BR><BR>"My understanding of the university system
is that it is largely dysfunctional. Resources are lacking, many
professors spend their time earning from private tuition - so my
impression is that it would not make a great deal of difference if
they are shut down," said Armstrong.<BR><BR>Aidan Foster-Carter, a
writer and researcher on North Korea, formerly at Leeds University
in England, said: "North Korea sets great store by these
anniversaries. They decreed a few years ago that 2012 would be their
date for becoming a great and prosperous nation defined in economic
terms. It would make sense having extra persons out there to help
with construction, though normally it is the army that does
it."<BR><BR>But any mass use of student labour for longer than the
summer vacation months would mean a trade-off against achieving
economic goals that required educated workers, he
said.<BR><BR>"North Korea's is a strange and broken economy but they
also need educated people to pull them out and it would be a major
precedent to close the universities. It could be a sign that they
are in a worse mess than we thought."<BR><BR>Hazel Smith, professor
of security and resilience at Cranfield University who also lectures
at Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung University, said North Korean
universities were operating as usual in and outside the capital when
she was there in May.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>She said it would
be counterproductive for the regime to close universities. Despite
huge labour shortages throughout the country, the regime is "fully
aware that people need to be taught IT and technology and of course
nuclear [engineering].<BR><BR>"They are dependent to fulfill their
economic goals on people who are computer literate and engaged in
advanced science. I don't think [closures] will last very long.
There are too many other priorities to deal with."<BR><BR>Analysts
in Japan and South Korea suggested there could be other reasons
behind the decision to disperse the students across the country,
including the possibility of demonstrations at campuses inspired by
the Arab Spring uprisings, which began at universities.<BR><BR>They
noted that North Korea had purchased anti-riot equipment from China
in recent months, including tear gas and batons, while there has
been an increased police presence at key points in Pyongyang in
recent weeks.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>Foster-Carter said
North Korea watchers have been closely monitoring for signs of
unrest since the spring, but there had not been any.<BR><BR>"The
amount of information from the Middle East reaching the ordinary
citizen is very, very limited and there has been nothing at all in
the official media," Armstrong said. "There has been no student
unrest that we know of for the last 50 years."<BR><BR>According to
North Korea analysts, party controls are in place to prevent student
uprisings, including political indoctrination and strong
surveillance. Some analysts said surveillance on campuses had
relaxed in recent years because many party officials had not been
paid.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR>However,
experts agreed that the possibility of universities being shut would
be an ominous sign of tension. "The most likely reason [to shut
universities down completely] would be for military mobilisation if
they thought they were going to be attacked," Smith said.<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR><B>Related
links</B><BR><BR></FONT><A style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,51,102); FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none" class=original href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20101203211829688" target=_new><FONT color=#000000 size=4 face="Times New Roman">NORTH
KOREA: University events raising tensions</FONT></A><BR><A style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,51,102); FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none" class=original href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20100507211230667" target=_new><FONT color=#000000 size=4 face="Times New Roman">NORTH
KOREA: First international university opens</FONT></A><BR><A style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,51,102); FONT-SIZE: 8pt; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; TEXT-DECORATION: none" class=original href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20100507205720549" target=_new><FONT color=#000000 size=4 face="Times New Roman">NORTH
KOREA: University opens students to the world</FONT></A><FONT color=#000000><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=4><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR></FONT></FONT></FONT><A style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,51,102); FONT-SIZE: 8pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none" class=relatedblocklink href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110630144003329&mode=print"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>Printable version</FONT></A><BR><A style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,51,102); FONT-SIZE: 8pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none" class=relatedblocklink href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/forms/email_article.php?story=20110630144003329&mode=form"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>Email to a friend</FONT></A><BR><A style="FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(0,51,102); FONT-SIZE: 8pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none" class=relatedblocklink href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article_comment.php?sid=20110630144003329"><FONT color=#000000 size=3>Comment on this article</FONT></A><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><BR><BR><B>Disclaimer:</B><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>All reader responses posted
on this site are those of the reader ONLY and NOT those of
University World News or Higher Education Web Publishing, their
associated trademarks, websites and services. University World News
or Higher Education Web Publishing does not necessarily endorse,
support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with any comments,
opinions or statements or other content provided by
readers.</FONT></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>