[KS] Pyongyang Univ of Science & Tech (PUST) on BBC1 TV, Mon 3 Feb, 2030 ...

levi nicolas nicolas_levi at yahoo.fr
Sun Feb 9 12:52:49 EST 2014


Maybe the PUST is only something like the church in Pyongyang ? The PUS is a sad place in my eyes, because I though that the freedom of speech was higher there than in other places. It's seem to be the same as on other places. For me, the PUST is rather creating future elites of the DPRK who will manage the NK system keeping the standards of the NK system. 


Best,

Nicolas

________________________________
 De : Gianluca Spezza <spezzagianluca at gmail.com>
À : koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com 
Envoyé le : Jeudi 6 février 2014 15h54
Objet : Re: [KS] Pyongyang Univ of Science & Tech (PUST) on BBC1 TV, Mon 3 Feb, 2030 ...
 


yes Nicholas,

actually no need to believe it. it's a fact the KPA is involved in
    PUST. they built it from scratch, they run most of the facilities if
    not all of them, they do the maintenance, they send some of their
    children there (others go to a couple of special military
    institutions in PY, pretty much as well equipped as PUST), and given
    that every single bit of educational material is scrupulously
    checked before it reaches the classrom, we know this is also done by
    part of the military. 

I agree with Caroline that some of the questions in the doc were a
    bit dumb (seriously, michael jackson ...of all people?) but then
    again that is BBC panorama. They do have the urgency to proclaim
    they found some 'incredible story' behind everything, like the
    students going to the 'juche building' to receive classes in
    politics, ideology and history. that has been happening since 1948
    in NK, in every school, not much news there. Also such practice is
    one of the pillars on which Dr. James Kim built his agreement with
    the NK government (just as he did in China for YUST): zero
    interference with politics/absolute lip service to the ruling
    government, and it could not be otherwise or the school would have
    never seen the light.  

However, this works for non-sensitive subjects, such as computer
    science, agriculture or chemistry, it is clear that students remain
    behind on many important topics: economy, private finance,
    individual rights, history, media, and this all makes their
    education less valuable (some say useless) outside of North Korea. 

The real question for me is how long can PUST continue to teach in
    such a sealed-off environment and is it really worth it in terms of
    'positive change for the future of North Korea and its integration
    with the rest of the world'? 

We'll probably see very skilled agronomists and statisticians in NK
    in the next years , who still won't know how life really goes on
    outside of their country. What's the point?

Last, one question i would have liked to ask (but I know it can't be
    asked, even  off the record) is: do students at PUST know about how
    the university came about, who funds it and who founded it and what
    is the story behind the Christian foundation that owns and runs PUST
    and YUST)? 

I know the answer is 'no' (and this has been confirmed by all the
    PUST-related people i have interviewed), because it would be very
    hard to explain the that their government allowed a religious
    foundation, with HQs in US and SK to run one of the top schools in
    the country.

Cheers

G. Spezza - NK News


On 06/02/14 15:35, levi nicolas wrote:

I'm probably feeling more depressed than Frank Hoffman.
>
>
>I also do believe that the KPA is involved in the management of the PUST. 
>
>
>
>________________________________
> De : Caroline Norma <cazzpeta at hotmail.com>
>À : Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com> 
>Envoyé le : Jeudi 6 février 2014 14h24
>Objet : Re: [KS] Pyongyang Univ of Science & Tech (PUST) on BBC1 TV, Mon 3 Feb, 2030 ...
> 
>
>
> 
>Yes, a truly awful documentary, but the scene where the student points out the factory owner would have to give up ownership, and that was the 'problem' with the task assigned, was at least one bright moment. And how appropriate that the presenter asked the class whether they knew who Michael Jackson was--the biggest symbol of decadent, paedophilic, drugged up western social decline anyone could think of. It was almost a relief they had no idea. 
>Many thanks for forwarding the link.
>Caroline Norma
>
>
>> Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 10:21:55 -0800
>> From: hoffmann at koreanstudies.com
>> To: koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com
>> Subject: Re: [KS] Pyongyang Univ of
                          Science & Tech (PUST) on BBC1 TV, Mon 3
                          Feb, 2030 ...
>> 
>> Dear Aidan -- sure, can amplify and
                          magnify, quantify and objectify, 
>> but it shall just be another stultifying
                          experience. That is not needed.
>> 
>> Frank
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, 5 Feb 2014 09:47:50 -0500 (EST), Afostercarter at aol.com wrote:
>> > Frank, this has to be your shortest
                          post ever.
>> > Care to amplify?
>> > 
>> > Best
>> > Aidan
>> > 
>> > __________________
>> > 
>> > In a message dated 05/02/2014
                          12:34:30 GMT Standard Time, 
>> > hoffmann at koreanstudies.com writes:
>> >> 
>> >> How depressing.
>> >> 
>> >> Regards,
>> >> Frank
>> >> 
>> >> 
>> 
>
>
>
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