[ Read this story in Korean: "러 체류 북 유학생, 귀국 명령에 최근 탈북” Opens in new window ]
North Korea has ordered all its students abroad to return home for ideological training – to reverse the outside influence the students have been exposed to while overseas, a North Korean escapee who resettled in South Korea told Radio Free Asia.
The escapee, who requested to be identified only by the pseudonym Kim for personal safety, told RFA Korean that he learned of the order from another escapee who recently arrived in South Korea.
“He said that he had been studying abroad in Russia. Then the authorities ordered him to return,” Kim said. The order came from supreme leader Kim Jong Un in July, his friend said.
That prompted Kim’s friend to flee Russia for South Korea, he said.
It isn’t known exactly how many North Korean students are studying in China and Russia, but probably several hundred, according to South Korean media outlet KBS. Many were there since before the pandemic hit in 2020.
Apparently officials in Pyongyang are afraid that because they’ve been out of the country for so long, they may have been influenced by the outside world – that is, they have become used to living in situations where their government is not in complete control of their lives.
It had been common practice for students to be ordered to periodically return in small numbers for loyalty classes, but these did not occur during the pandemic, so Pyongyang now wants to send them all for intensive ideological inspections en masse, according to South Korean media.
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North Korean students in China and Russia experience more freedom than in North Korea, and this has caused many to go into hiding to avoid coming home, said Cho Han-Bum, a researcher at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification.
“These people experienced freedom abroad for a longer period, and because they stayed abroad for a long time, there were many cases in which they violated the rules of the North Korean authorities, whether voluntarily or not,” he said. “So, if they return home, there is a greater chance of being punished.”
The North Korean government is very worried about losing control over the students who have been abroad for many years, Kim Geumhyuk, a former North Korean student in China who fled to South Korea in 2012, told RFA.
“Five years is a very long time,” he said. “I believe that the North Korean authorities must have a greater fear (of the students) than the students (have of them,) considering that these students have been outside the scope of North Korea’s control for five years. So, most of them will have antipathy toward the North Korean system.”
The authorities are worried that these students could influence society in a way that is detrimental to the current ruling structure, or could share information and facts that the government has tried to keep hidden, he said.
Cho predicted that the student recall order could lead to a series of escapes.
“Those people who are in China and Russia, such as diplomats, elite students, and workers are more likely to escape from North Korea,” he said. “If students who were hiding in Russia receive help, it is likely that they will come to South Korea.
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.