It was reported on the 16th that an incident occurred where a teacher at an elementary middle school (our middle school) in Hoeryeong, Hamgyeongbuk-do, North Korea, mobilized her parents’ network to prevent her from participating in training for the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Guards, and ended up on the stage for criticism due to a complaint from a fellow teacher.
According to Daily NK’s North Hamgyong Province source, Ms. Kim (pseudonym), a teacher in her 20s at an elementary middle school in Hoeryeong City, asked her parents, who had connections with officials of the civil defense department of the city party committee, to attend the training in order to avoid receiving training for the Workers-Peasant Red Guards scheduled for the winter vacation. A request was made to decorate the documents, which was raised as an issue.
In North Korea, all unmarried women are required to participate in Workers-Peasant Red Guard training, and female teachers are also required to participate every winter vacation before marriage. Training takes place for 15 days at the Red Youth Guard training centers located in each city and county.
Men are required to participate in Worker-Peasant Red Guard training even after marriage, but women are officially excluded from training after marriage, so there is a joke in North Korea that says, ‘If you don’t want to go to training with a gun or a backpack, get married quickly.’
Mr. Kim’s solicitation was revealed through a complaint from a fellow female teacher. In the end, it is said that Mr. Kim was publicly criticized at a faculty meeting for having “a sick ideology,” and was forced to resign from the class he was in charge of.
The source said, “The fellow teacher who reported the homeroom teacher for trying to not participate in the Labor-Peasant Red Guard training was a non-homeroom teacher who did not have a class in charge and was always jealous of Mr. Kim.” He added, “The homeroom teacher can make ends meet through bribes received from parents, but the non-homeroom teacher can make a living through bribes received from parents. “This is because homeroom teachers have no profit to eat,” he said.
Sources say that most teachers are in charge of a class, but there are about 5 to 6 students in a school who are not in charge of a class, leading to a secret struggle between teachers to become a homeroom teacher.
The source said, “At the beginning of every year, there is a fight between teachers over who will be in charge of the class. The teacher who raised the issue this time was also preparing to be assigned a class as the new semester approaches, and then he intentionally filed a complaint against Mr. Kim.”
Meanwhile, it has been reported that teachers at the school are giving a harsh look to the teacher who tried to take charge of the class over a colleague and criticizing him, saying, “It’s unseemly to report a colleague to take over the homeroom teacher position.”
It is so common for teachers to use their personal connections to skip training in the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Guards. The teachers themselves do not see this as a big problem, but rather see it as something worse for reporting a colleague and putting him in trouble.
A source said, “In the end, a new teacher will not be able to become a homeroom teacher and his reputation will suffer,” adding, “Some say that when a school does not give a homeroom teacher position, there must have been a good reason from the beginning.”
Source: www.dailynk.com
