Educating North Korea Panorama

North Korea, one of the most closed and repressive societies on earth.

Led by an unpredictable despot,

who recently ordered the execution of his own uncle.

THEY SING

Remarkably, weeks before his death,

we gained access to North Korea to film a pioneering experiment.

A groundbreaking university.

Paid for by the West,

designed to open the minds of the secretive state's future elite.

Tonight on Panorama,

can foreign lecturers change the mindset of a brainwashed generation?

If there's going to be change in North Korea,

it's probably going to come from these elite students.

'But is change possible in a country where people

'worship their leader like a god?

'And appear to be in the dark about the outside world.'

Who's heard of Michael Jackson, put your hand up?

Michael Jackson?

No?

# How great thou art

# How great thou art...#

Meet Dr James Chin-Kyung Kim.

# How great thou art! #

The President of Pyongyang University of Science

and Technology or PUST.

Dr Kim, an American citizen, is on a mission from God to use PUST

to peacefully transform North Korea.

It's remarkable,

given North Korea persecutes Christians,

the regime hates America

and the regime once condemned Dr Kim to death for being a spy.

Foreign journalists are all but banned from North Korea, but Dr Kim

has spent 18 months helping us negotiate access to the university.

Quite what I'm going to be able to film

and how much we're going to see is anyone's guess.

Our drive from the airport to the university takes us

through the showpiece capital, Pyongyang.

The image of North Korea the regime wants visitors to see.

No sign of the poverty and food shortages which human rights groups

say blight the rest of the country.

Pyongyang is impressive.

You see all kinds of things that prove that the regime must be

wise and must be munificent.

I mean, who could build Pyongyang who wasn't wise?

The answer is on display everywhere, the Kim family dynasty.

They've had North Korea in their ruthless grip since 1948.

First there was Kim Il-sung.

Then his son, Kim Jong-il.

And when he died two years ago his son Kim Jong-un took over

the brutal family firm.

Any hopes the young dictator would be more moderate have been dashed.

He's threatened nuclear war against America...

..and just before Christmas executed his uncle,

supposedly for plotting a coup.

Approaching the university, on the outskirts of Pyongyang,

it's clear from the start PUST is no ordinary academic institution.

The campus is guarded by troops.

Given the go-ahead by Kim Jong-un's father,

the university opened three years ago.

THEY SING

These are the students.

Marching to breakfast, singing songs about war.

Dr Kim says PUST is unique by North Korean standards.

Paid for by the West, it exposes students to Western ideas

and technology.

Every student, though, is handpicked by the secretive state.

There are 500, the majority in their 20s and said to be

the sons of some of the most powerful men in North Korea.

Including senior military figures.

The regime doesn't allow women to study here

but they do make up the majority of guards on campus.

'North Korean citizens are usually banned from speaking to

'foreign journalists.'

Sorry, I'm Chris. I'm from London, my first time...

'But during my ten day stay at PUST I am allowed to film with students.

'The down side, I'll be closely monitored...

'..and student accommodation blocks are off-limits.

'The students are all keen to tell me

'how they are studying for the glory of North Korea.'

So, those songs that you're singing when you're marching,

is that patriotism, that's all about the good of our country?

'The students' life runs along military lines.'

THEY CHANT

'Rain or shine, the day begins at half past six,

'with full-on exercise sessions.

'After a quick cold shower they're changed

'and march into breakfast on the stroke of seven.'

THEY SING

So, open up your books to page 36.

By 8.30 they're beginning three hours of classes,

including English language skills.

Don't listen to our advice.

STUDENTS REPEAT: Don't listen to our advice.

Dress badly and have ugly hairstyles.

STUDENTS REPEAT: Dress badly and have ugly hairstyles.

'After which, time to get the collective blood flowing...

'..with a daily pre-lunch parade-ground workout.

'Workers across North Korea take part in

'similar synchronised displays every morning.

'And so the regimented day goes on.

'At first sight, PUST feels like it's business as usual

'for the institutionalised North Koreans.

'But PUST patrons believe the university can help the country move

'in a radically different direction.'

The hope is that the young people who come through that

university will be people who will question

and will ask the right questions about the ideology,

about the system, the way the country is structured.

'78-year-old Dr Kim invited me to join him

'on his daily morning run around the campus.

'He thanks God he's alive.

'The regime sentenced him to death in 1998 for spying,

'whilst bringing aid into the country.'

-So how many days were you in prison?

-42 days.

-Not that you were counting.

-Yes.

'Dr Kim said he was freed after convincing the regime

'he was a force for good.

'Three years later, it invited him to build PUST,

'based on a similar university

'which Dr Kim had opened in Northern China.'

Everyone knew what he represented in North Korea, they're not stupid

and he is not naive.

He understands also the dangers that he has placed himself in

and he has walked that tightrope.

'Dr Kim had to raise £20 million to build PUST, largely from US

'and South Korean Christian charities.

'He also raises around £2 million a year for running costs.

'Dr Kim calls it "unconditional generosity".

'Giving graduates the economic, agricultural

'and technical skills to benefit North Korean society.

'It is hard to believe.'

So, when you plant a whole field you want every plant in that field

to do an equal job.

'Christian lecturers, teaching in a country

'which persecutes religious believers -

'in English, the language of the hated enemy, America.

'What is going on?'

You know, there are many things about North Korea that,

on the face of it, don't make any sense.

They're full of contradictions

and PUST is an obvious kind of contradiction.

I think they want the outside technology

so bad that they're prepared to accept some risks.

Did any of you have a mother or father who has ever

flown on a plane?

-No.

-No?

'The risks?

'Students' minds become polluted by Western ideas

'and begin to question regime propaganda.'

The figure that I gave, if you go global

then you get big sales, potentially.

'Colin McCulloch left Yorkshire to teach business studies at PUST.

'The former business consultant lives on campus

'and gives his time for free.

'Some of the other 40 lecturers are sponsored by Christian charities.'

I'm sure that the leaders and the government here

recognise that they need to connect with the outside world.

It's not possible to be a totally hermetic,

closed economy in the modern age.

'PUST says it's careful not to pass on technology

'which could be exploited militarily.

'But, equally, what's taught is also censored by the regime.'

Do you find yourself having to adapt the lesson to make it

suitable for where you are and who you're teaching?

Yeah, I mean, that's part of the deal.

They have a kind of editorial control over what we're

actually going to put forward.

Erm, what we're going to do this morning is make you

the managers of four companies.

'In a country where the supply of products is controlled

'by the regime, the concept of a free market

'is new to these students.'

Are they getting it?

They're starting to get it,

although the issue is that there's only limited

context in their own public media and their own home environment.

No, no, it means that the bank owns the shares, not borrowing.

'It's hard to see how the students will put these skills into practice.

'All North Korean business is state controlled

'and trading with foreign companies is restricted by further

'UN sanctions, imposed after last year's nuclear threats.

'The students are conditioned not to question the regime

'but are they becoming frustrated?'

I've never played this before.

I just thought I'd tell you now.

'Finding out what they really think isn't easy.

'Maybe sport will help me break down the barriers.

'In the evening I'm approached by a student who seems keen to talk.'

Chris, Chris.

Sorry.

When you leave PUST what job do you want?

-What job?

-Yeah.

You don't know?

'He quotes the party line on why North Korea is so underdeveloped.'

Yes, yes...

Why is it important to you to have foreign teachers rather than

Korean teachers?

Yeah, yeah, you want more.

'Just as I feel I'm starting to make a connection,

'a uniformed guard walks over and takes him aside.'

We're invited guests, we've got permission to film

but you can feel the tension developing the moment

we have a long conversation with a student.

'What is becoming clear is just how out of step the students

'appear to be with the outside world.'

You've probably seen these gentlemen around.

'American lecturer Erin Fink invites me to talk to her students.'

Who's heard of Michael Jackson? Put your hand up.

Do you know who that is?

-No.

-Michael Jackson?

-Michael Jackson.

No, he's not the President, no.

Michael Jackson, he was a very famous singer.

How old is he? He died. He was 50 years old.

'You might have thought students would have found out

'about Michael Jackson on the internet.

'Unlike most of North Korea, it is available at PUST.

'But the woman seen here on the left censors access.

'Students have to let her know in advance which sites

'they intend to go to.

'And it's strictly no e-mail,

'no social media and no international news.'

Do you ever see a day

when you'll be able to sit in a cafe in Pyongyang and use the internet?

Would that be useful?

HE LAUGHS

'For North Korean citizens, news of the outside world

'is almost non-existent.

'Off campus in Pyongyang, all we see and hear is a daily diet

'of regime propaganda.'

LOUD SPEAKER BLARES

The only news at eight o'clock, every night,

on state TV is Kim Jong-un news and what he's doing for the country.

Even the daily newspapers dedicate their front pages to

Kim Jong-un news.

There he is opening up a children's hospital

and today meeting his generals.

'No mention of the reality of life for the vast

'majority of North Koreans.

'According to the UN, millions suffer from chronic poverty

'and a lack of food and medical care.'

They're spending their money... It's a matter, literally,

a matter of guns before butter.

'A current UN investigation into human-rights abuses in North Korea

'has gathered testimony from defectors who

'were previously imprisoned in the country's brutal labour camps.

'Independent estimates put the number of political prisoners

'in the tens of thousands.'

Many die.

Many stories of prisoners being put onto trolleys

and taken out to be burned in a vat.

People growing up their whole lives there,

living on rodents and on grass, just to survive.

And it may amount to a crime against humanity.

'Human-rights activists question

'whether PUST should be operating at all in such a country.'

If the price to pay for being allowed to establish

a presence inside North Korea is ignoring North Korea's

egregious human-rights violations,

I will say that that price is too high.

You have to start somewhere.

So, this isn't an excuse for appeasement, which I'm totally,

utterly apposed to.

This is an argument for some form of engagement in order to try

and change things.

'But is contact with the West really transforming these young men?

'Leader Kim Jong-un studied in Switzerland

'and PUST sends selected students abroad.

'Three have just returned from a year

'at Westminster University in the UK.

'Has this opened their minds?'

How different is Britain to the DPRK?

'On the face of it, no.'

There would have been things that you saw in Britain

that you don't see here, like the television is very different,

the music is very different.

Did you ever get away from studying,

-did you ever come across new types of music...

-In the UK?

..in the UK?

'And is this student also studying his colleagues?

'He is clearly monitoring them.'

What about you? You're being very quiet.

'I have no idea if it's out of fear or the conditioning

'of their minds, but this awkward interview is going nowhere.

'It leaves me wondering

'if these students can ever be agents of change.'

'Devotion to the leader appears absolute.

'We discover students are receiving two separate educations on campus.

'Alongside Western lectures, they also come to this building

'for lessons in the regime ideology, known as Juche.'

It's become a kind of catch-all for a fierce,

strident nationalism of the kind practised by North Korea.

Pinning it down to a precise meaning is actually quite difficult.

'We're forbidden from filming in the Juche building

'but I speak to some students outside.'

Do you learn about Juche from when you're a young child or only now?

Your whole life. Well, describe it to me.

For the country?

That's powerful stuff.

'It's 7am on a Sunday.

'My colleague finds students inspecting

'the area around a monument built to honour Juche and the regime.'

Hi, guys, what are you doing here?

We just get rid of dirty...dirt.

Say again, sorry.

We just get rid of dirt.

Doubt.

-Oh, dirt.

-Yes.

'Every last speck of it.

'The students arrive in droves to obsessively

'scrub the monument area clean.

'Even the dirt between the paving is scraped out.'

Is it hard work?

'They carry on cleaning into the night.

'Just beyond the campus, the lights of the showcase capital, Pyongyang.

'Resources are so scarce, electricity is cut off

'at 11 o'clock every night,

'plunging the city into darkness.

'The university is spared the switch-off.

'Perhaps a sign of its importance to the regime.

'By now I've been at PUST for six days and the constant

'monitoring by government minders is becoming wearing.'

It gets to you after a while.

It's a bit like being under house arrest.

Imagine spending months teaching here.

Good afternoon.

'Business lecturer Sandralee Moynihan

'has been at PUST for a term.'

It is very restrictive.

What it brings to you too is a knowledge of how precious

freedom is.

We can't even take a walk in a park.

'Sandralee, a Christian like many PUST staff,

'does have the freedom to go to church in Pyongyang.'

Mr Ching, could you take another one?

Thank you.

'But it's yet another contradiction.

'Practising Christianity can lead to the prison camp.'

The authorities wanted us to film Mass at this church,

to show that there is religious freedom in North Korea.

Of course, it's only for foreign workers here

and some handpicked locals.

Yes, President Kim, let's go to Mass.

THEY SING

'Are the North Koreans really true believers

'like Sandra and her PUST colleagues?'

The students told me, there is no-one

who is a Christian in their country.

'The locals come across as extras in a well-rehearsed show.

'Watch carefully,

'they're not actually putting money into the collection.

'Even the farewell to the foreigners appears choreographed.'

Are you all Christian? Do you come here every Sunday?

'At least, until we tried to talk to the local congregation.

'A minder quickly appears.'

Hello, I'm Chris.

Yes, I'm very surprised to see a Christian church in DPRK!

Oh, OK.

I think we've got to go.

'How do you change a brutal, paranoid dictatorship, which

'unashamedly lies to its own people, foreign visitors and the world?'

If change is going to come to North Korea in positive ways, it's probably

going to come from privileged people like the students at PUST.

They're the ones who have access, after all, to the leadership.

Do your parents or even grandparents,

do they ever bother you?

Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

Yeah?

'After ten days with students and staff,

'I'm convinced some students' minds are being opened up by PUST.

'And I'm not alone.'

I believe they're getting bolder and I believe that's very good.

They really have had so little freedom.

If you only had one company,

do you think that they would invest new technology?

'Weeks after our filming, Sandralee got her freedom back,

'opting to leave PUST.

'Deemed too outspoken in class,

'she has since been blacklisted by the North Koreans.

'But PUST remains, for the students,

'a unique window on the outside world.

'There is no clearer example than the university dental clinic,

'run by American dentist Byungmoo Lee.

'It offers something the regime can't. Painless dental care.'

Before PUST have you ever been to a dentist?

No.

By learning about the West like this, erm,

it must increase their own sense of aspiration and what they would

like to see for themselves, for their families and for their society.

And they will feel frustrations

because their society won't be able to meet those expectations.

That's the way revolutions often start or changes in regimes.

When you first met a foreigner, an American, were you wary,

were you nervous of meeting an American?

Do you think, in the future,

you may like the government as well as the people?

'But before they can answer,

'the North Korean Head of Security intervenes.'

He doesn't like us filming.

People often say to me, is there any hope for North Korea?

Well, the one thing that was left in Pandora's Box was hope

and I feel that way about North Korea.

There is, of course, hope in the eyes of some of these young people

and we've got to carry on encouraging that.

'The first students graduate from PUST in May.

'Will they, and those that are set to follow,

'help lay the foundations of a new North Korea?'

THEY SING

'Or simply use their new-found knowledge to perpetuate the regime?'

Next week,

Panorama goes undercover to expose fraud in the immigration system

and reveals the network of agents

and criminals involved in the bogus student visa trade.