Building Goodwill in North Korea
Building Goodwill in North Korea
Monday, 25 August 2008
North Korea (or the DPRK - Democratic People’s Republic of Korea - as it is officially known) is the world’s most isolated and reclusive country. It is perhaps the country that is resisting the vortex of globalisation more stridently than any other.
To follow the dream, I have been leading an initiative to build goodwill between young people in North Korea and youths of similar ages from around the world. This has involved five trips to North Korea since 2005, four of which have been with students from the College. The most recent trip has just returned from the DPRK, and the 16 students who participated bring the total number of LPCUWC who have been ambassadors of goodwill in North Korea to 53. This year’s group of students came from Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Spain and Tanzania.
Quite a deal of progress has been made in building relations between UWCs and educational authorities in the DPRK, but there is still a long way to go. Several of my colleagues who are Heads of other UWCs have said they would be willing to offer scholarships to North Korea in principle, but the North Koreans have been making some demands that are not easy to overcome. The trip this week was an attempt to build on the goodwill established by previous groups of students.
Unlike previous trips, which were of four days’ duration, the recent trip lasted almost a full week. This provided some excellent opportunities to venture outside Pyongyang into North Korea’s countryside and gain a deeper insight into the country and its contemporary situation in terms of development, politics, education and so on - at least, as far as the official minders allow. The list of places visited gives some insight into the exhausting scope of experiences enjoyed by the students:
Friday 15th August – Mansudae Grand Monument (20 metre high Kim Il Sung statue)
Friday 15th August – Arch of Triumph
Friday 15th August – Kaeson Fun Fair to mingle with local people
Friday 15th August – Foreign Languages Bookstore
Friday 15th August – Mingling with locals in Moranbong Hill Park
Friday 15th August – Kim Il Sung Square with holiday floodlighting
Saturday 16th August – Tower of the Juche Idea
Saturday 16th August – Three Revolutions Exhibition
Saturday 16th August – Captured US spy-ship ‘Pueblo’
Saturday 16th August – War monuments near the War Museum
Saturday 16th August – West Sea Barrage at Nampo
Sunday 17th August – Kumsusan Memorial Mausoleum to pay respect to body of Kim Il Sung
Sunday 17th August – Revolutionary Martyrs’ Cemetery
Monday 18th August – International Friendship Exhibition - Halls of Gifts to the Great Leader Kim Il Sung and the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il from world dignitories
Monday 18th August – Bohyon Buddhist Temple on Mount Myohyang
Monday 18th August – Grand People’s Study House, Pyongyang
Monday 18th August – Pyongyang Film Studio
Tuesday 19th August – Stamps Shop and Philatelic Centre
Tuesday 19th August – Monument to the Founding of the Korean Workers’ Party
Tuesday 19th August – Visit to June 9th Secondary School
Tuesday 19th August – Pyongyang Schoolchildren’s Palace
Wednesday 20th August – The Concrete Wall near Kaesong
Wednesday 20th August – Manyongdae; the Birthplace of Kim Il Sung
Foreign relations also seemed calmer than I have experienced during previous visits. Unlike earlier times, busloads of South Koreans can now visit North Korea, and most of our fellow guests at Mount Myohyang were indeed South Koreans. Of course, they are still not allowed to visit Panmunjom and the DMZ, but their very presence in significant numbers seems like a major shift and thawing of relations in my view.
Having said this, as always, there was a continuing obsession with the role of the US on the Korean peninsula. Many North Koreans (and I gather many in the south too) feel that the US is the biggest stumbling block to the reunification of the two Koreas. The North Koreans we spoke to felt that the presence of 30,000 US troops in South Korea could only reflect aggressive intentions, as Korea bears little or no relationship to the defence of the United States. As one person said “Imagine if North Korea was stationing 30,000 troops on the US border in Mexico. Would the US calmly accept that there was no aggressive intent and that they were there for defensive purposes only?”.
Like previous trips, this year’s goodwill trip was made possible by the financial generosity and support from Mr Bill Benter, the Kowloon North Rotary Club and a third sponsor who wishes to remain anonymous. I know that the students who participated on the trip are deeply grateful to these generous philanthropists without whom the building of international goodwill among young people across the last wall of the Cold War like this would be impossible. I would like to add my profound and sincere thanks also in the belief that these encounters with North Korea are so significant that they literally have the potential to change the course of history in our region.
I have prepared four image galleries to show just a few aspects of this week’s trip. Please click on the links below and enjoy!
Gallery 1 - The students on their travels - 84 images
Gallery 2 - Visit to June 9th Secondary School - 69 images
Gallery 3 - Mass Gymnastics “Prosper Our Motherland” - 60 images
Gallery 4 - Mass Gymnastics “Arirang” - 66 images
Mass Gymnastics in Pyongyang this week. Like all images in this blog, you can click for an enlargement.