By Lee Tae-hoon
South Korea’s military drill held on Yeonpyeong Island, Monday, was rumored among North Korean students to be the U.S. military’s attack on Pyongyang, causing many to skip school and find shelter to hide, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Friday.
RFA said, citing a source in Cheongjin, North Hamgyeong Province, that a large number of the children of the North’s elite studying at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang were absent from school on the day of the live-fire exercise near the maritime border.
He claimed that this caused attendance rates to plummet by more than 30 percent among students studying political economy and revolutionary history in the social science department.
According to the RFA, students who had skipped school could be seen thronged around Samhung Station, which lies just across the street from the university’s main gate.
“In the case of Kim Hyung Jik College of Education, which many children of mid-level Pyongyang cadres attend, the majority of those born in Pyongyang were absent,” the RFA claimed. “Even professors were totally confused because baseless rumors were flying around, such as the one that 'Right now American stealth fighters are flying above Pyongyang.’”
According to a North Korean professor in Shinuiju, North Pyeongan Province, rumors spread that seven North Korean soldiers, including two squad commanders, were killed as the South Korean military struck back in response to their surprise attack on Yeonpyeong last month.
On Nov. 23, Pyongyang launched a surprise attack on the remote island near the maritime border off the west coast, killing four South Koreans, including two civilians.
“The North stopped issuing travel permits in the area south of Sariwon in North Hwanghae Province, and cut all phone connections in a bid to stop the spread of the rumor,” the professor noted.