Educator Couple in Hoeryong

Among the participants in the national meeting of educational workers held at the People’s Palace of Culture in the capital city of Pyongyang in October Juche 93 (2004), there were a couple delegates who drew the attention of people. They were Ri Tu Ik and Jon Song Hui from Hoeryong.

Hoeryong is situated on the bank of the Tuman River in the northern extremity of Korea. The Kim Jong Suk Teacher Training College well-known to the whole country is located in the city, which is thick with the fragrance of white apricot blossoms in the flowering season. Every year many young people apply to this college as it has been named after the anti-Japanese heroine Kim Jong Suk whom they revere so much.

Kim Jong Suk lost all her parents, brothers and sisters at the hands of Japanese imperialists in her childhood, took part in the anti-Japanese armed struggle organized and led by President Kim Il Sung and performed immortal exploits. At the foot of Osan Hill in Hoeryong is her native house. Endless streams of people visit this house to learn after her.

Ri Tu Ik and Jon Song Hui came to this place 30 years ago as a young man and woman after graduating from universities in Chongjin and in Pyongyang respectively.

They began their social life at Kim Jong Suk Teacher Training College. It was their honor and pride to work as teachers in the historic place Hoeryong. So they did their best to improve their qualifications and devoted themselves heart and soul to teaching. They had a high sense of responsibility for the training of educators who would shape the future of the country, and were proud of working in the historic revolutionary site. They always took the lead in improving instruction and the educational environment of the college.

They got married amid their worthwhile life and, after long years of teaching, came to assume the heavy responsibility of section chiefs.

Ri Tu Ik is praised as a model teacher in education. And he has made hundreds of teaching aids to improve the educational environment of the college and written scores of textbooks, reference books and theses for the students.

His wife Jon Song Hui became rector of the Hoeryong College of Light Industry in the late 1990s when the nation was going through bitter trials, and has since made a great contribution to the work of enhancing the quality of education by vigorously pushing forward the work of developing and updating practical training to suit the developing realities. In particular, she aroused the teachers and solved all the problems arising in the management of the college and in the work of teaching in the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. As a result, she was able to better the educational environment and raise the scholastic attainments of the students.

With a firm resolve to round off their career as educators, the couple help each other to fulfil their duties in bringing up the future of the country.

Article & photos: Ho Yong