Education office’s online cartoon attacked for ‘praising NK’

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education deleted a cartoon after it drew controversy for praising North Korea.

The education office uploaded a cartoon on social media Friday, based on a story sent in by an elementary school teacher. The story was about what happened in class when they introduced what school life is like for North Korean students.

In the cartoon, a teacher character talks about a typical school day for North Korean children, explaining that the students go home or eat lunch boxes brought from home at school, instead of having lunch in a cafeteria.

The cartoon also portrays the teacher explaining that North Korean children go on picnics and have a sport day at school. The South Korean students say, “I am jealous of the North Korean students,” as they have not been able to enjoy such events due to social distancing restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the teacher explains to the students that North Korean students study under one teacher during all of their years at an elementary school, the South Korean students say, “I really want to go to North Korea” and “Who wants to go with me?” because they do not want to part with their teacher.

The cartoon drew mixed responses online. Some criticized the education office for uploading a post that “falsely praises” North Korea.

The post was deleted Saturday, a few hours after it went viral.

“We deleted the post as the phrases may cause misunderstandings,” an official from the education office said.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)