Gwangju top educator proposes field trip to North Korea

Mt. Kumgang. / Korea Times file

By Jung Min-ho, Jung Da-min

Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education wants to send students to North Korea for their field trip.

The education office said Sunday it sent the proposal to Cheong Wa Dae and the Unification Ministry ahead of a planned South-North summit next month.

Officials said students would be able to learn much about North Korea through hands-on experience.

Gaeseong, Mt. Kumgang and Baekdu are among the suggested destinations.

The proposal also includes inviting North Korean students, teachers and provincial officials to historic places in Gwangju.

Moon Ki-soo, who was born and raised in Japan, told The Korea Times that his first and last visit to Pyongyang about 17 years ago gave him a different view of North Korea.

“It was very different from what I saw on Japanese TV channels,” he said. “People were nice and proud of their nation. The travel changed my attitude toward the idea of Korea's unification more positively.”

Moon, who obtained South Korean citizenship after the trip, added, “Field trips to North Korea would make more South Korean students interested in the North, which I think is important groundwork for unification.”

Gwangju education superintendent Jang Hui-guk said he would keep pushing the field trip idea.