Goethe Institue in Pyongyang to Close

By Kim Se-jeong

Staff Reporter

What was believed to be the only cultural window to the Western world in North Korea -- and therefore made Germany proud -- is now facing closure.

Inaccessibility to the German "Reading Room," and censorship by the Kim Jong-il regime were what led to the decision, said Raimund Woerdemann, director of the Goethe Institute in Seoul, who visited Pyongyang in November.

"The Goethe Institute has two principles. One is open access to everyone who wishes to come, and the second is no censorship," which the German side now believes has not been respected since its opening in 2004.

The director said the two entrances to the Reading Room were closed.

It is on the top floor of a three-story building -- the Chollima Cultural House -- in Pyongyang. The other two floors have facilities for showing films and mounting exhibitions.

The library was stocked with books, mainly scientific literature or similar that carried the least ideological implications, Woerdemann said.

Books were available for loan only to group subscribers, such as science institutes, not individual visitors, which meant the obstruction to open access, the director added.

No German staff are working there. The operation of the Reading Room is controlled by the North Korea-German Friendship Society that keeps two permanent staff members on site.

The director said North Korea expressed a strong discontent with the decision to close the Reading Room, and that he had to try hard to convince them his visit was "not to say good-bye to the Reading Room, but to say let's move on at different levels with different projects."

He met with a few people in the film industry, inviting them to the Berlinale, an annual German film festival next year. It will be the North's second potential participation.

The Goethe Institute was also invited to the Pyongyang International Film Festival, which takes place every other year-- next September. German directors and the Goethe Institute have been invited before.

The director said the institute's existing scholarship program will continue. Currently, two North Korean students are on scholarships, learning German at the Goethe Institute in Berlin.

skim@koreatimes.co.kr