An Australian student on the first ever language learning trip to North Korea was fed bizarre propaganda about the secretive state’s former leaders.
Jack Carneiro, currently an International Studies student at Tsinghua University in Beijing, was one of 12 people who attended the three-week course at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung University, the first university built in North Korea.
The students paid $3,000 each to study under North Korean professors in the hermit kingdom, as leader Kim Jong-Un and US President Donald Trump began a tense stand-off over missile launches.
Australian university student Jack Carneiro says he was fed bizarre propaganda about North Korea’s former leader during a language learning trip to the secretive state
Mr Carneiro, who was joined by 11 other students, came across North Korean books declaring the ‘United States must get out of South Korea’
He attended a three-week course at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung University, which featured a painting of dictator Kim Jong Un
The trip took place as leader Kim Jong-Un and US President Donald Trump (centre, during UN session) began a tense stand-off over missile launches
The group lived in residential halls and spent hours studying, playing and living alongside North Korean students.
But as well as learning Korean, they came across North Korean propaganda books – containing bizarre sentences such as ‘The United States must get out of South Korea It has no ground for remaining in South Korea,’ and ‘Comrade Kim Il-Sung was the most distinguished leader of our times’.
Kim Il-Sung was in power when North Korean forces invaded South Korea, sparking the brutal Korean War which lasted three years and resulted in over 35,000 deaths.
Il-Sung, who is referred to as ‘The Great Leader’ in North Korea, was also responsible for beginning the country’s obsession with nuclear weapons, starting research programs in 1994 despite widespread condemnation from Western countries.
The books also described Kim Jong Il, who took over from Il-Sung as Supreme Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 1994, as ‘the great leader’.
‘Such a miracle is possible only in Korea led by the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il,’ the book said.
Under Jong Il’s government, which was described by one Human Rights Watch report as ‘among the world’s most repressive governments’, U.S. officials alleged 200,000 political prisoners were held hostage.
The group lived in residential halls and spent hours studying, playing and living alongside North Korean student. Tensions between North Korea and much of the Western world escalated when Kim Jong Un fired two missiles over Japan
‘Led by the great leader Comrade Kim Jong Il’: More examples of the propaganda books
Students are pictured honouring statues of some of North Korea’s former leaders
Jack said: ‘I was very excited at first when I crossed the border. It felt like a theme park and a throwback to the Soviet Union in the 1980’s.
‘It was hauntingly beautiful, and after a while I felt very relaxed and safe. What struck me most were the fashion styles, very clean cut and formal.
‘I met quite a few local students in the corridors, they couldn’t speak English, so I spoke Korean to them, we talked briefly about our daily lives and they were delighted.
‘The students led lives very different from the students in the West. Students in North Korea prefer to go parks, zoos and certain sights to spend time together.
‘The tensions were always at the forefront of discussion. We often would talk about Russia, China and the US and their influences in the region. I was often asked how people viewed the nuclear tests abroad.
‘It was interesting to hear the answers from the Korean point of view.’
The students stayed at Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung University, the first university built in North Korea
The propaganda books said Kim Il Sung was ‘the most distinguished leader of our times’. Il-Sung’s government was described as among the world’s most repressive governments in a 2004 Human Rights Watch report
Group photo of the students outside the university
Mike Funnell, 43, is an English teacher working in Shanghai. Originally from Canada, he was on his fifth trip to North Korea, but says he had never experienced anything like it.
He said: ‘I found a book to help me practice Korean in a bookshop in Wonsan. It’s quite full of propaganda. Other textbooks we used were more geared towards Chinese students and so were less blatant.
‘Another odd moment was on one of our hiking excursions, we came across a group of Koreans dancing in a ‘campground’, except there were none of the things you would expect to find when people are camping, including vehicles, food, or even tents.
‘We came back about an hour later or so and they were all gone. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of evidence they had even been there. We suspected our encounter with them was staged for whatever reasons but none of us seemed to mind.
Books found in the North Korean university praised former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il
An image of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il is proudly displayed on a wall in the university
‘We were all aware of the rising tensions and knew what was going on but everyone in our group tried not to be worried about the situation. Things have been tense on the Korean peninsula for decades, so these recent tensions were nothing new to anyone involved with the tour,’ Mr Funnel said.
‘We all spoke openly about the news we saw on Al Jazeera with our guides. They thought a lot of what we told them was crazy.
‘One of our tour guides seemed much more worried about the North Korea’s rapidly deteriorating relationship with China.
Ben Griffin, of travel company Juche Travel Services, is originally from the UK and helped run the trip having previously worked as a language teacher in North Korea.
He said: ‘As a non-profit humanitarian project, the Korean language summer school was hugely successful.
‘It constituted a vital first step towards facilitating greater academic exchange and cooperation with local universities and helping students from all over the world to bypass mutually held stereotypes and create a positive environment for peace and reconciliation.
‘I hope that current tensions will be resolved peacefully with all sides abstaining from the zero-sum game of harmful vitriol.
The students were able to experience life as a North Korean student, learning Taekwondo