North Korea is investing heavily in nurturing talent in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) by establishing AI education rooms in its integrated elementary, middle, and high schools.
The ruling party’s official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported on Thursday that under the party’s guidance, the newly established Chonjin Advanced Middle School in the Nangnang District operates as a unique integrated school.
The newspaper explained that the integrated school provides education from kindergarten through advanced middle school (high school) in a closely connected curriculum. It stated that this school was built to create a new experience in operating educational institutions and enhancing educational standards, aligning with modern educational development trends and pedagogical demands by conducting the entire 12-year compulsory education program on one campus. This means the school is designed to implement elementary, middle, and high school curricula all in one location.
The newspaper introduced facilities such as the AI education room, a television (TV) broadcasting room, a children’s broadcasting room, a research room for teaching methods, and a practical elementary classroom. The coverage included images of educational robots moving around the classroom, students apparently building robots at a round table, and children wearing three-dimensional (3D) glasses to watch videos.
According to the newspaper that the AI education room is equipped with various modern educational facilities and equipment, where step-by-step education on AI technology will take place. It added that through extracurricular activities, kindergarten children will acquire knowledge that prepares them for advanced AI technology education through robot play, while elementary school students will learn about simple algorithms.
The report continued that in the beginner class, students will receive programming education, and in the advanced class, they will solidify their foundational knowledge of AI technology through the design, production, and operation of robots tailored to their skill levels. The newspaper emphasized that all of these educational programs are very effective in nurturing creative talents for the future.
This indicates that North Korea is incorporating educational methods that directly utilize and foster understanding of AI and information technology (IT) into the curricula for students from kindergarten through high school. Following the 2019 amendment of its socialist constitution, North Korea has introduced cutting-edge technology concepts in various sectors by adding informatization to the subjectification, modernization, and scientificization of its people’s economy.
North Korea’s top university, Kim Il Sung University, has also established an AI technology research institute within its AI department, while the Distance Education Department at Kim Chaek University of Technology has developed a remote education system that integrates AI.