What Do North Korean Schoolchildren Learn About The United States?
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What Do North Korean Schoolchildren Learn About The United States?

Katia Kleyman
Updated April 22, 2024 39.9K views 12 items

Many Americans wonder what North Koreans believe about the United States. The education system in North Korea is completely state-financed and a 12-year-education is compulsory for all children. North Korean child propaganda is fed to children in grades as early as kindergarten. North Korean anti-American nursery rhymes and cartoons pervade the classroom and children’s educational programming. But what are North Koreans taught about the US in school? The information they are fed is a heavily distorted view of history and current realities about the United States. They are also taught unbelievably ridiculous things about the abilities of their current and past leaders. One thing they know for sure is that the American imperialists need to be hated, and this is a sentiment that doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon.

  • There Are Frequent Field Trips To A Museum Dedicated To America's Crimes Against North Korea
    Photo: AgainErick / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

    There Are Frequent Field Trips To A Museum Dedicated To America's Crimes Against North Korea

    There is an entire museum dedicated to all of America’s crimes against humanity. It is called the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities, and it’s located just south of Pyongyang. Children make frequent field trips to this museum, which instill in them a fierce repulsion of America and all its cultural values. Much of the material in the museum is extremely graphic and includes photographs of Americans violently murdering North Korean women. The authenticity of much of the material in the museum is highly questionable.  

  • They Like To Play Games That Involve Smashing Americans To Death

    According to People for Successful COrean REunification (PSCORE), a non-profit behind the “Forced To Hate” educational report, North Korean children play a super fun game during their school’s field day. The game is called “Smash the foreign-nosed Americans to Death.” The report doesn’t get into the details of the game, but one could only imagine a whack-a-mole scenario. They have other violent games where America always ends up on the losing side.

  • Children Are Taught That General MacArthur Instructed Troops To Kill Koreans So They Could Have Their Women

    The North Korean propaganda book, The US Imperialists Started the Korean War, claims in order to incentivize his troops, General MacArthur promised them all the women in Seoul. The book claims MacArthur issued this “special order” in September 1950 to American soldiers landing in Inchon. “Retake Seoul! There are girls and women. For three days the city will be yours. You will have girls and women in Seoul,” was apparently a MacArthur direct-quote, according to the book.

  • Americans Are Almost Always Referred To As Bastards

    In Korean, “miguk nom,” literally translates to “American bastard,” and everyone from school-age children to grandmothers refer to Americans in this way. “We love playing military games knocking down the American bastards,” reads one poster inside of a children’s classroom. Another poster features an image of an American with a noose around his neck.

  • North Koreans Are Taught That The US Started The Korean War

    There is a propaganda book children in North Korea have undoubtedly read in their classrooms titled The US Imperialists Started the Korean War. In reality, the Korean War started when the communist North Korean People’s Army invaded the south by crossing the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950. The war lasted for three years and left millions of people dead. When it ended in 1953, North and South Korea were separated by a demilitarized zone, and they have remained separated since. However, the propaganda book claims the United States started the war so that they could use Korea as a jumping off point for the progression of their global domination.

  • Kids Like To Beat Up Dummies Of American Soldiers At Recess

    Schools in America try to discourage violence on the playground. This isn’t the case in North Korea. Children have an array of tanks and toy guns to choose from for their recess games. Three Associated Press journalists visited a school in North Korea in 2012, and they reported the school’s principal pulled out a dummy of an American soldier. The principal said the children enjoyed pummeling it with stones during playtime.

  • Kids Learn To Hate Americans Through Propaganda Cartoons
    Photo: Kounosu / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY SA 3.0

    Kids Learn To Hate Americans Through Propaganda Cartoons

    On weekend mornings, most kids in America are probably parked in front of the TV watching SpongeBob SquarePants. Kids in the Democratic Republic of North Korea, however, get a massive dose of propaganda through their cartoons. They have animated kids shows like Boy General or The Squirrel and the Hedgehog to teach them America is nothing but a bunch of imperialistic, capitalist assh*les.  

  • A Book Claims Americans Killed A Quarter Of The North Korean Population In A 52-Day Rampage

    There is a book in the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities which claims American soldiers killed a quarter of North Korea’s population (then over 35,000 people) over the span of 52 days. The book was published by Pyongyang’s Foreign Languages Publishing House in 2009. The museum also houses skulls and bones from alleged victims of the war.

  • The Juche Ideology Is The Core Of North Korean Education And Vows To Bring Down Capitalist Scum
    Photo: Uwe Brodrecht / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

    The Juche Ideology Is The Core Of North Korean Education And Vows To Bring Down Capitalist Scum

    Juche, or "self-reliance," is the official national ideology of North Korea and is something instilled in children at an early age through the state-run education system. It was originally developed by Kim II Sung in 1955, and it emphasizes the responsibility of the North Korean public to maintain a revolutionary spirit and to forward the state’s progress. It also demands absolutely loyalty to the state leader and a hatred of capitalism.

    “We must overturn imperialism and capitalism, and continue the revolution even after we establish the socialist system. Socialism and communism does not automatically get established through the usurpation of imperialism and capitalism. The longevity of socialism and communism are reached through long-term labor and class struggles,” the philosophy states.

  • Early Anti-American Sentiment Starts With The Misrepresentation Of The 'General Sherman' Incident
    Photo: John Pavelka / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0

    Early Anti-American Sentiment Starts With The Misrepresentation Of The 'General Sherman' Incident

    In 1866, an armed American marine merchant steam ship named the General Sherman docked in Korea, determined to trade goods. During this time, Korea was under the Joseon Dynasty, which had an insolation policy similar to what North Korea has now. The Americans steamed up to Pyongyang - despite warnings not to - and they were then said to have detained Adjutant-General Yi Hyon-Ik.

    After local protests, the General Sherman was said to have fired shots into the crowd, which launched a full-on attack. Everyone on board the General Sherman was killed; those who escaped onto the shore were beaten to death. While the General Sherman should not have antagonized the Koreans, what North Koreans are taught in school today varies greatly from what occurred. They are told the General Sherman was a naval warship sent to Korea to invade and conquer the nation. This marks the beginning of anti-American sentiment in North Korean history.

  • Propaganda Claims The Americans Planned To Turn South Korea Into A Colony

    The propaganda book The US Imperialists Started the Korean War claims the US occupied South Korea to colonize it and make it into a massive military base to conquer the North. This is what North Korea calls the “greatest national misfortune” in the history of the Korean Peninsula. The propaganda book claims the US occupation pit North and South Korea against each other, stating, “It was the root cause of a calamity of territorial bisection and national division which the Korean people had never experienced during their long history of 5,000 years.” The book also claims, “From the first day of their occupation of South Korea, the US imperialists followed colonial enslavement and military base policies.”

  • The Kim Family Are Believed To Be Gods
    Photo: J.A. de Roo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

    The Kim Family Are Believed To Be Gods

    Above all else, children in North Korean schools are taught to worship their all-mighty leader. Their fearless leader is the one who has the strictest anti-American stance, so much of this hatred for Americans stems from the love and admiration the Korean people have for the Kim family.  They are taught that the Kim family (Sung, Un, Il) are essentially god-like. A biography about Kim Jong-Il claims he didn’t use the bathroom. The biography also claims when Kim Jong-Il was born, a new star formed and lit up the sky, which also conveniently sprouted two double rainbows. Oh, and the season changed from winter to spring. Similar amazing feats are said of his son, Kim Jong-Un.