A/HRC/25/CRP.1 (a) Indoctrination from childhood 166. Children are taught to revere and idolize Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and now Kim Jong-un. Plaques with slogans, posters and drawings expressing gratitude to the Supreme Leader are found in kindergartens irrespective of the children’s ability to fully comprehend these messages.120 In addition to the usual subjects in schools, such as mathematics, science, art and music, an unusually large portion of the school syllabus is dedicated to the instruction about achievements and teachings of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, including the Ten Principles and the DPRK’s official version of its revolutionary history.121 One former educator in the DPRK suggests that the teachings of ideology based on the writings of and about Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in fact “constitutes most of the education” in the DPRK.122 The contents of these teachings are customized to suit the students’ capacity to understand and then memorize them.123 If the students do not perform well on the subjects of Kim Il-sung’s philosophy and revolutionary history, they may be punished even if they do extremely well in other subjects.124 These educational goals are contrary to those outlined in article 29 of the CRC. 167. There are two basic themes central to the North Korean indoctrination programme. One is to instil utmost loyalty and commitment towards the Supreme Leader. The other is to instil hostility and deep hatred towards Japan, the United States of America (USA), and the Republic of Korea (ROK). The latter objective is pursued with such deliberate and systematic efforts that it clearly amounts to advocacy of national hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence, and to propaganda for war, in violation of article 20 of the ICCPR.125 168. Children are taught that they should aspire only to emulate Kim Il-sung. For example, those inclined to drawing are encouraged only to draw pictures of the Supreme Leader or make drawings which might have pleased Kim Il-sung. Good drawings are put up in schools. Typically, they either depict the Kim family or they depict children stabbing Japanese or American soldiers with swords or pencils.126 • One witness stated that as a school student, drawing anything other than images to please Kim Il-sung never occurred to him. He was interested in becoming a great 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 46 TAP002, TAP005. TAP005, TAP006. Park Kwang-il, “Seoul Summit: Promoting Human Rights in North Korea – Human Rights concerning Education: North Korean Authoritarian Regime’s Infringement on Human Rights Starts from Education”, 2005. Official subjects apparently include “Dear Leader Kim Il-sung’s childhood days,” “Dear Leader Kim Jong-il’s Childhood days”, “Dear Leader Kim Il-sung’s Revolution Activities”, and “Dear Leader Kim Jong-il’s Revolution Activities”, p. 120. TAP006, TLC035. TLC035. Article 20 indicates that such propaganda and advocacy should be prohibited by law, which entails not only the adoption of necessary legislative measures against such acts, but also that the State effectively prohibits them and also itself refrains from any such propaganda or advocacy, Human Rights Committee General Comments No. 11, paras. 1-2 (HRI/GEN/1/Rev.9 (Vol. I)). TAP005. From among the pictures taken in the DPRK by an Associated Press photographer, one of the pictures featured was described as “Kindergarten kids’ drawings that depict children killing U.S. soldiers hang on the wall at Kaeson Kindergarten in central Pyongyang on 9 March 2013. For North Koreans, the systematic indoctrination of anti-Americanism starts as early as kindergarten”. Available from http://www.nationalgeographic.com/125/photos/north-koreaguttenfelder/?utm_source=NatGeocom&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=pom_20131103&utm_c ampaign=Content#.UpdduNKkpaB.