{"id":130569,"date":"2026-08-24T21:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/130569\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T21:17:07","slug":"north-korea-cracks-down-on-university-thesis-ghostwriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/130569\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea cracks down on university thesis ghostwriting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"university,<\/a>Students walking to classes at Kim Il Sung University (Kim Il Sung University website)<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s Cabinet Ministry of Education has ordered major universities in Pyongyang<\/a> to stamp out the ghostwriting of graduation theses, sparking anxiety among soon-to-graduate students and their faculty advisers<\/a>, according to a source inside the country.<\/p>\n

The education ministry issued the directive in mid-August, telling each central university to \u201cthoroughly eliminate\u201d the practice of writing theses on students\u2019 behalf, a Daily NK source in Pyongyang said Monday. Intensive inspections into how graduating students prepare their theses are expected to run for about a month.<\/p>\n

Inspectors are expected to focus on whether students personally chose their thesis topics and took part themselves in gathering research materials and drafting their papers, the source said. For students who have already finished their theses, examiners plan to check whether they understand the material well enough to explain it in their own words.<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether the ministry will lead the inspections directly, hand the task to the Pyongyang city department of education, or have universities cross-check each other\u2019s students, according to the source.<\/p>\n

Theses often treated as mere formality<\/p>\n

Ghostwriting graduation theses is reportedly common at North Korean universities<\/a>. Unlike science and engineering-focused schools such as Kim Chaek University of Technology<\/a> or Pyongyang Medical University<\/a>, some humanities departments treat a passing thesis as good enough, even without meaningful research<\/a>, the source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some liberal arts universities, there\u2019s a strong belief that all that matters is getting the thesis approved, even without any notable research achievement,\u201d the source said. \u201cThe thesis is treated as just a formality to earn a diploma, and it\u2019s rare to hear of anyone failing to graduate because of their thesis.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, some students have prepared for graduation by asking classmates or underclassmen skilled at writing to complete their entire thesis for them<\/a>, the source said.<\/p>\n

With news of the crackdown spreading, universities are anxious about being caught up in the fallout. Ahead of the formal inspections, schools have reportedly begun reviewing graduating students\u2019 thesis preparation on their own. Some are requiring students to document how they gathered materials and drafted their papers, while in certain departments, faculty advisers are holding one-on-one interviews with students to directly confirm their thesis topics and content.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents who already received help from someone else, or whose thesis preparation is lacking, are on edge, worried that problems could surface during the university\u2019s internal review,\u201d the source said. \u201cGhostwriting is not only a problem for students, since the faculty members who supervised the thesis cannot escape responsibility either, so professors are just as on edge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n

Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n

\n Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media, satellite imagery, or defector accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.\n <\/p>\n

\n Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea \u2014 discovery means imprisonment or execution. This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report on developments other outlets cannot access: market trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives.\n <\/p>\n

\n Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance. Daily NK serves as a bridge between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what\u2019s happening inside one of the world\u2019s most closed societies.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students walking to classes at Kim Il Sung University (Kim Il Sung University website) North Korea\u2019s Cabinet Ministry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[449,12048,13842,129,4918,12248],"class_list":["post-130569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pyongyang","tag-crackdowns","tag-education","tag-ministry-of-education","tag-pyongyang","tag-students","tag-universities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}