North Korea's education policy is to improve the country's information and communication technology is not limited to government organizations and research institutes. The peculiarity of North Korea's IT education lies in its giving priority to software development as opposed to hardware and using gifted education and external cooperation to reinforce technology education.

The manifold exhibitions and contests are organized in North Korea in a bid to disseminate the country's achievements in the IT field throughout the society and, ultimately, stimulate the public interest. Starting from 1990s, when North Korea was beginning to put emphasis on the development of IT industry, these events (seeTable 1) still remain influential today.

[Table 1. Top IT exhibitions and contests in North Korea]

A wide range of exhibitions and competitions introduce the latest computer programs developed by IT-related education and research institutes throughout the country, and the number of entries has steadily increased since they were first held in the 1990s (see Table 2). North Korea's IT industry policies aim to encourage development of competitive SW programs and apply these technologies to, and hence modernize, various places like public institutions, factories, and companies. Moreover, many technology-related events were held recently to celebrate the 65^th anniversary of the Labor Party in an attempt to display the government's accomplishment.

<Table 2 : number of SW program entries >

National Information Science Technology Presentation, in particular, gathers scientists and technicians from IT research and education institutes across the country to publicize the achievements and share their experiences regarding collection, analysis, processing, examination, and securing of information. The participating experts present hundreds of IT-related data and research such as the hospital management system. Furthermore, in the National Education Program Exhibition, relevant government officials and researchers make presentations while university teachers and students submit programs they developed; a few years ago, the exhibition featured Samcheonri, a geographic information program designed by Kim Il-sung University, and another program named Factory and Business Operation and Administration. The North Korean government actively exploits this opportunity to develop and promote IT education in various industries.

All of the events mentioned above have one thing in common: the competitions are focused on software. Indeed, most of the contests started during the 2000s programming competitions. Secondly, the participants encompass a wide range of groups from middle school students to university students, teachers, and researchers.

North Korea has announced in various public announcements such as the New Year's message in the newspaper that the government will modernize and rebuild science technologies, and also noted that IT industry will be the crucial link for 'prompt' economic recovery. It is natural, therefore, that more government support and education programs are directed to the development of the IT industry.

In this light, IT-related technology exhibitions and presentations could be seen as the North Korean government's efforts to draw the public attention to information and technology industry as well as to nurture motivation and competitiveness among the experts. These events will likely be further expanded in the future, assisting North Korea's advance in international cooperation.

Source:http://cafe.naver.com/kimel.cafeiframe_url=/ArticleRead.nhn%3Farticleid=210

http://www.nktech.net (North Korea Science Technology Network)

Choi Seong(sstar@nsu.ac.kr) 다른기사 보기