North Korean University in Crisis: Student Faces Expulsion Amid Financial Hardships

Expulsion from Pyongsong Medical University
Failure to Complete Social Duties from School Quotas
Failure to Deliver Required Goods by Deadline

Recent controversies have arisen in North Korea over issues related to the performance of school quotas. A university student from Pyongan South Province was threatened with expulsion for failing to complete school quotas, leading to a complaint involving professors and university workers.

According to a report by Daily NK on the 12th, “A student at Pyongsong Medical University was put on the expulsion list last month after he failed to complete the quotas assigned by the university due to his financial difficulties,” and “The student went to the professor in charge of his class and university officials to complain.”

The student at the center of this issue appears to have been studying hard at the university since 2022 after being recommended for admission around the time of his military discharge. He lived in a dormitory with money sent by his farmer parents. However, as financial difficulties at home have become severe since last year, he could no longer receive financial support from his parents and perform the social duties imposed by the school for several months.

The social duties of the school quotas refer to collecting raw materials and supplies needed to produce recyclable goods. For example, if social responsibilities such as collecting scrap iron, oil crops, or straw are assigned, one must deliver the assigned quantity by the deadline. The student faced situations such as being put on the expulsion list as he frequently missed school to earn money to complete his overdue tasks.

Recently, as construction projects increased in North Korea, the number of quotas assigned to students by schools has been rising.

As economic difficulties hit North Korea, the number of students unable to complete these tasks is also rising. Professors put pressure on students over this issue because when the number of such students increases in a class, the class receives a mark for underperformance of quotas, and the professor in charge of that class faces humiliation and interrogation in meetings.

The professors in charge of certain classes advise students in financial difficulties to “quickly resolve overdue payments” or “take a leave of absence until things improve,” preventing them from attending school.

According to a source held by Daily NK, “When students who are behind on their quotas attend classes, they are pressured to meet their quotas and get the cold shoulder from other students. In effect, they cannot succeed in school no matter how hard they try. Eventually, these students look for work, but as their absences from class increase, they’re eventually placed on the expulsion list”.

The student in question also tried to pay off his overdue money by juggling work and school without taking a leave of absence, but his name was put on the expulsion list in March.

To avoid expulsion, he visited the professor in charge of his class last year, complaining, “Should you leave the university if you have no money? Does the university have a policy of expelling students who can’t pay?” but nothing changed.

When he failed to persuade the professor in charge of his class, he went to the school’s officials and complained, “If I’m going to raise the money the university wants me to pay, I have no choice but to skip class. I’m trying to earn money to pay for school and keep up with my studies simultaneously. So why should my name be on the expulsion list? I’d understand if I played truant and chose not to pay if I had the money. Is there really no way to study if you don’t have the money?” but again, nothing changed.

Eventually, the student was expelled, which is shocking. It has been revealed that more than ten students from Pyongsong Medical University have been expelled for similar reasons. Those who fail to perform social duties of quotas are stigmatized and face sanctions when trying to enter another university to study anew.

Meanwhile, according to the Korean Central News Agency, on the 10th, Kim Jong Un visited the Kim Jong Il Military Academy, which trains the highest-ranking military commanders.

On that day, Chairman Kim toured the academy’s classrooms, dormitories, and dining halls, having a meal with the faculty and students receiving military officer education, which he brought himself. The reality faced by the expelled student and the image of the Kim Jong Il Military Academy visited by Chairman Kim are starkly different. While some North Korean college students are expelled for failing to perform school quotas, North Korea is reportedly using those students as laborers without an abashment.

Last year, North Korea mobilized even university students from Hyesan City to overturn and replant potato fields at the Samjiyon City Potae Farm and the Taehongdan-gun Farm, where the fall harvest had already been completed.