{"id":71585,"date":"2026-07-02T02:15:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/71585\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T02:15:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T02:15:48","slug":"schools-boost-kim-jong-un-idolization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/71585\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools boost Kim Jong Un idolization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Officials<\/a>Officials in Chongjin city’s Songphyong district carry out a school support drive during the Month of School Support, March 2024. Rodong Sinmun-News1<\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s cabinet-level education ministry has ordered schools nationwide to devote more of their daily ideology sessions to Kim Jong Un\u2019s personal achievements, scaling back content on his predecessors, a Daily NK source said, in a move that appears aimed at deepening the cult of personality around the North Korean leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn mid-June, the education ministry sent a directive to the provincial education bureau telling it to actively instill in students the revolutionary activities and achievements of the Marshal,\u201d a source in South Hamgyong province told Daily NK on Wednesday, using a title commonly applied to Kim Jong Un. \u201cIt said to reduce content on party policy or on the forerunner leaders and focus intensively on the Marshal instead,\u201d referring to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.<\/p>\n

North Korean schools hold roughly five minutes of what is called a \u201cparty ideology session\u201d before regular classes begin, using a booklet known as \u201c365 Days of Study\u201d to teach students about the revolutionary activities of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, along with party policy. According to the source, that session is now being devoted heavily to promoting Kim Jong Un specifically.<\/p>\n

The updated study material reportedly covers Kim Jong Un\u2019s education reform drive, his 20\u00d710 regional development policy, a program to build modern factories in 20 counties per year over a decade, along with construction of the Samjiyon tourist zone and the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, and a planned memorial hall honoring North Korean troops sent to fight abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, the revolutionary achievements of past leaders were taught together, but since the order came down to focus intensively on the Marshal\u2019s activities and achievements, the material keeps growing, and it\u2019s putting more pressure on teachers who have to memorize it all,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Teachers strain to keep predecessors and successor straight<\/p>\n

A teacher at a school in Hamhung\u2019s Sapho district described the difficulty of the assignment. \u201cThe list of the Marshal\u2019s revolutionary activities that we have to pass on to students keeps growing, and it\u2019s easy to mix them up with the achievements of the past leaders, so a lot of teachers just lump them together and call them all \u2018the Marshals,’\u201d the teacher said, adding that this shortcut usually goes unnoticed unless an inspection is underway.<\/p>\n

Because inspections remain a risk, teachers still feel pressure to master the growing volume of material in precise detail, according to the teacher, who said many struggle to draw a clear line between the achievements of Kim Jong Un and those of his predecessors when explaining the material to students.<\/p>\n

The source said the education ministry has framed the effort as essential to completing the \u201cOur State First\u201d ideology, North Korea\u2019s official doctrine asserting the superiority of its own political and social system, and has called on teachers to strengthen their role as \u201cprofessional revolutionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shift reflects a broader trend of building a personal cult around Kim Jong Un that is increasingly distinct from reverence for his predecessors. Analysts see the push as an effort to instill loyalty in the younger generation and reinforce North Korea\u2019s \u201cunitary leadership system,\u201d under which absolute authority is concentrated in the Kim family line.<\/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":"Officials in Chongjin city’s Songphyong district carry out a school support drive during the Month of School Support,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12048,448,446,447,141,31,36105,13842,34,453,4918,10448],"class_list":["post-71585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-korea","tag-education","tag-ideology","tag-kim-il-sung","tag-kim-jong-il","tag-kim-jong-un","tag-korea","tag-lectures","tag-ministry-of-education","tag-north-korea","tag-propaganda","tag-students","tag-succession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71585","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=71585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}