Pyongyang orders return of students abroad

Worried about possible threats to regime’s stability from North Korean children educated abroad, Pyongyang has ordered its diplomats and state trading company officials stationed overseas to send their children back home, an expert on the secretive regime says.

Kansai University Prof. Lee Young Hwa said the order was first of its kind passed under the North’s young leader Kim Jong Un, according to the information he received from a North Korean trading official in China. The order, with a deadline set for the end of September, allows only one child per household to stay with each official abroad.

The order apparently stems from Pyongyang’s concern that children receiving an overseas education could undermine the stability by spreading information about the outside world.

The revelation follows reports earlier this week that the daughter of a senior North Korean official has sought asylum in South Korea.
“There’s opposition and discontent against the sudden order and the government is stepping up control to prevent deviance,” Mr. Lee quoted the trading company official as saying.

A similar order was issued in 2007 under then-leader Kim Jong Il, affecting around 3,000 children of North Korean diplomats in around 50 countries. Media reports at the time said the order was met with defiance as diplomats refused to send their children back home. Mr. Lee said he expected a similar reaction against the latest measure.

“There are rumors the order will be retracted or its deadline delayed as happened back in 2007,” Mr. Lee quoted the North Korean official as saying.

According to figures from Seoul, more than 25,000 North Koreans have escaped and settled in South Korea and in other countries since the Korean War cease-fire in 1953, while even more are in hiding in other countries