REPUBLIC

minant of social class, education is particularly important. 185 However, the KWP controls access to
educational opportunities, thereby limiting social mobility within and across generations. 186
All educational institutions receive supervision and guidance from the KWP. 187 Although the general
North Korean population attends schools in an education system with uniform national standards,
the elite in Pyongyang are able to send their children to special schools for the elite from kindergarten
onward. 188 Elite families seek entrance for their children to the best kindergartens to secure
their childrens’ future. Unsurprisingly, the best schools in North Korea are in Pyongyang. Among
the best kindergartens are Kyongsang Kindergarten, Pyongyang Changgwang Kindergarten, and
Kim Jong-suk Day Care Center. 189 These are located at the traditionally preferred address of Changgwang
Street or the newly preferred address of Changjeon Street. Kyongsang Kindergarten gained
fame after Kim Jong-un visited it twice. Pyongyang Changgwang Kindergarten is a favorite of Pyongyang’s
Party committee and central Party cadre because of its proximity to their places of residence. 190
The best high school in North Korea is Pyongyang Number 1 High School. This school specializes in
training the top students in North Korea in math and science. The Party’s Science Education Department
identifies talented students and channels them into specialized programs to further North
Korea’s science and technology research, particularly in relation to the defense industries. However,
academic success at schools in Pyongyang does not guarantee permanent residence in Pyongyang
for oneself or one’s family. After their education, the vast majority of scientists move on to defense
industry locales, the majority of which are in the provinces. 191
185 However, the Western norm of wealth for determining class is gradually becoming an indicator for
success, particularly in Pyongyang, and generally narrowed to the elite. The North Korean population, as a
whole, is made up of 60-70% lower class, where there is a direct correlation between social class and wealth.
There are distinctive parallels between social class and wealth due to opportunity. See Cho et al., The Everyday
Lives of North Koreans, 38-39.
186 Kim and Kim, Bukan sahoe-ui bulpyeongdeung gujo-wa jeongchisahoejeok hamui, 67.
187 Vice principals are responsible for schools’ Party cells, the Children’s League, and the Kim Il-sung
Socialist Youth League. See Hyung-Chan Kim and Dong-Kyu Kim, Human Remodeling in North Korea: A Social
History of Education (New York: University Press of America, 2005), 226 and 244.
188 Pak Joo-Hee, “북 특권층, 유치원부터 학군 따져” [North Korean Elite Quibble Over Schools Beginning
With Kindergarten], New Focus, March 21, 2014.
189 Kim Jong-suk was Kim Jong-il’s mother.
190 Pak Joo-Hee, “북 특권층, 유치원부터 학군 따져” [North Korean Elite Quibble Over Schools Beginning
With Kindergarten], New Focus, March 21, 2014.
191 Kim and Kim, Bukan sahoe-ui bulpyeongdeung gujo-wa jeongchisahoejeok hamui, 65.
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Pyongyang Republic by Robert Collins