Unusual post showed students envying North Koreans’ lunch
The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education uploaded a webtoon on its official Instagram account glamorizing North Korean students’ lives, but after receiving huge backlash, the post was deleted within a day.
The title of the digital comic uploaded on November 26 was, “I envy my North Korean friends.” The ten-page comic begins with a teacher explaining North Korean students’ lives to second-grade students in South Korea. The teacher told students about the difference between the two Koreas’ school systems and said that North Korea does not have the school lunch service, so they bring their own lunch or go home to eat lunch and then come back to school.
The teacher continued that “there are some sad moments” while describing how South Korean students reacted to pictures of North Korean students’ field day and sports events. The kids in the comic say, “We envy North Koreans, who can go on a field trip,” saying that they were not even able to come to school due to COVID-19.
The comic stated that when a homeroom teacher is designated in North Korea, they do not change until the day of graduation. The comic showed South Korean kids reacting, “Wow, then I really want to go to North Korea,” and “Everyone who wants to go to North Korea, raise your hands!” The comic shows the teacher feeling moved by students wanting to stay with the same teacher until graduation.
Various comments said the webtoon “is technically glamorizing the North Korean system,” “North Korean students are suffering from malnutrition, disease, and forced labor,” “the author of the comic, as well as the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, did not think it had major issues, and that is the main problem,” and “we seriously worry that these wrong ideas are being introduced to young kids.”
Another comment read, “I can understand how students envy North Korea for having regular field trips since there is the issue of COVID-19 in South Korea, but envying its lack of lunch service is ridiculous since it is because they are in a tough economic situation.”
According to the media reports, the Instagram account has more than 13,000 followers and over 200 people “liked” the post. However, the Gyeonggi education office deleted the post 20 hours after it was first uploaded as it was hit hard by criticism.
South Koreans were also mad at the fact that the education office deleted the post without providing an official statement on the issue. Some people made comments on the account’s other posts saying, “they should explain the situation first,” “an apology should come first,” “we need to find if there were any other posts that they deleted like this one.”
The Gyeonggi’s education office seems to be carrying on the legacy of its pro-North governor Lee Jae-myung, who recently left office to run for president.
