KTU Update
On closer examination, these appear to be the same suspects I blogged here. Hat tip to The Nomad, who points out that there’s no evidence that the stuff was actually used in class, although we’ve advanced a step in that direction. Unlike the case of the previous report, which was about mere online postings, these people have now been caught with materials designed for classroom use.
The 16-page A4 booklet is in the form of a Q&A. Targeting middle school second graders, the publication supports North Korea’s demand for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Korea and hails the North’s Songun or military-first ideology. It denies the South Korean government’s claim to be the only legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula, saying it is merely the legal government of South Korea. It portrays the Songun ideology as a “new socialism” whereby revolutionary leaders remake society with the military in the vanguard.
Also featured: a justification for North Korea’s nuke program, but zero mention of how many people died of hunger, cold, or disease to make that program possible. What I wonder, as the father of two kids who pretty much talk endlessly all day, is how these people thought that their little secret would be safe with the kiddies. Maybe they threatened to publicly execute Mister Nibbles, the fluffy white classroom bunny, if they told their parents. By the way, did I mention that one suspect is an ethics teacher?
For the record, I’d have no objection to this crap if someone gave equal time to a factual discussion of life and death in the totalitarian mind-suck of present-day North Korea.