The Chosun Central News Agency reported on the 17th that a celebratory performance was held at the Samjiyon Theater on the 16th to mark the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (‘The Festival of the Light of the Star’). [국내에서만 사용가능. 재배포 금지. For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution] yunhap news
As North Korea’s recent provocations continue, a government survey found that more than 3 out of 10 elementary, middle and high school students across the country believe that unification is not necessary.
It is analyzed that there is a gradual change in the perception of students and teachers toward North Korea and unification, which is the highest since 2014, when the survey on unification education began.
On the 17th, the Ministry of Unification announced the results of the “2022 School Unification Education Survey” conducted on 65,966 students and 4,903 teachers and administrators from 734 elementary, middle and high schools across the country.
The survey was conducted from October 18 to November 22 last year.
As a result of the survey, 57.6% of students answered that unification is necessary, a decrease of 3.6 percentage points (p) from the previous year, and 31.7% of students who thought that unification was not necessary during the same period increased by 6.7 percentage points from the previous year. .
Also, while the perception of North Korea as an object of cooperation decreased, the perception of North Korea as an object of caution increased.
The number of students who responded that ‘North Korea is a target for cooperation’ was 52.6% in 2021, but last year it decreased significantly to 38.7%, and the number of teachers who gave the same response also decreased to 76.9% compared to 2021 (80.3%).
On the other hand, the number of students who responded that ‘North Korea is a target of caution’ increased from 27.1% in 2021 to 38.1% last year, and teachers’ responses during this period also increased slightly from 9.3% to 11.8%.
As an obstacle to unification, students chose ‘North Korea’s military threat’ the most at 30.1%, and teachers answered ‘unchanging North Korea system’ (38.3%) the most.
Awareness that ‘the situation of the division of South and North Korea affects one’s life’ and that inter-Korean relations are ‘not peaceful’ both increased.
The number of students who said ‘division has an impact on life’ increased from 27.4% in 2021 to 32.9% last year.
55.7% of students answered that “inter-Korean relations are not peaceful,” an increase of 25.5 percentage points compared to 2021 (30.2%). Teachers who gave the same response also reached 72.5%, twice as many as in 2021 (36.8%).
The Ministry of Unification said, “Given the fact that 82.7% of students and 90.4% of teachers responded that they had experience in unification education at school, it seems that unification education in front-line schools is being carried out stably.” We will continue to support the development of new content and the expansion of experiential education while strengthening unification education on ‘The Reality of North Korea’.”
