Mick Hartley

It's a hard life for Pyongyang university students:

From Sept. 1, students at universities in Pyongyang began practicing for a mass parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s communist party on Oct. 10, Daily NK has learned.

According to a Daily NK source in Pyongyang on Monday, students from each university in the city are holding practice sessions in “empty areas” on major streets in Pyongyang’s central districts.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Daily NK that up to 100,000 people will participate in the mass parade at Kim Il Sung Square. Students attending universities in Pyongyang are expected to march in columns during the event and even take part in “mass games” at the square.

Currently, students at the universities are attending lectures in the mornings and then practicing for the parade from 1 PM to 8:30 PM, the source said. According to him, the students are completely focused on the practice sessions: they are wearing their required uniforms and bringing flags inscribed with communist party insignia, colorful flower bouquets and drums to use during the training. 

“Students are being pushed to the limit with group practices on top of their regular lectures,” the source said. “By the time practice is over, they don’t get home until 10 or 11 PM, so many students are having a tough time and end up getting in trouble for dozing off during morning classes.” 

According to the source, the students will be taking morning classes and participating in afternoon practice sessions until Sept. 16. On Sept. 17, they will just be required to attend morning classes but have the rest of the day off. From Sept. 18, however, the students will no longer attend classes, nor will they be afforded time off during the weekends; instead, they will be required to participate in “intense training” at Kim Il Sung Square every day from 8 AM to 7 PM.

Although students are complaining of fatigue due to the already draconian schedule, they are reportedly practicing as hard as they can so they avoid falling or tripping during the parade on Oct. 10. […]

Political organizations at each university are reportedly barraging students with propaganda during the practice sessions. For example, the students are being instructed to “demonstrate unlimited loyalty to the Great Leaders” and to “do their best during the training” because Oct. 10 is the communist party’s “biggest event” of the year. 

“This kind of ideological education is also a central part of weekly criticism sessions, where the students conduct self-criticisms and criticize others,” the source explained.

Let's hope that the prestige project of the Pyongyang General Hospital construction is ready on time – due for a grand opening on the 75th anniversary party on Oct. 10. There have been problems – soldiers drafted in, exhausted workers falling to their deaths, that sort of thing. Nothing too serious.

No word yet on how that series of literary works focused on the Pyongyang General Hospital project is going.