Pictured above: Suki Kim teaches the sons of North Korea’s most privileged families. (Photo courtesy of Suki Kim)
by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
When Suki Kim, the author of Without You, There Is No Us, went undercover to teach English at Pyongyang University of Technology in 2011, she learned many surprising things about her students, such as their absolute devotion to the country’s leader and their passion for basketball. But Kim never expected the sons of North Korea’s elite to connect with the fictional characters of Harry Potter.
Under the strict supervision of the North Korean staff, Kim and her students could only talk about topics that were included in pre-approved textbooks. Surprisingly, Harry Potter was briefly mentioned in one of those textbooks.
“They [the students] kept mentioning Harry Potter,” Kim told PRI in an interview. “And one of the teachers had a DVD with her so I tried to show it to them.”
Kim formally requested the school authorities to allow her to screen Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban in class and was surprised to see her request “miraculously approved.”
North Korean students watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (Photo courtesy of Suki Kim)
However, she was even more surprised by her students’ reaction to the film. Instead of being mesmerized by the film’s special effects, the young North Korean men were more focused on the characters writing essays.
“I had been teaching them essay writing, which was impossible there … because they don’t allow critical thinking,” Kim said. “To fight for your argument and backing it up with proof was something they could not understand. So essays became something [that was] really difficult in their mind.”
The students were amazed to find that Hermione Granger, one of Harry Potter’s best friends, also found writing essays to be difficult. Kim found that her students personally connected with the film’s characters over their shared dislike for essays.
“It was a connection they felt with the outside world, which they had never been allowed,” Kim recalls. “And that moment was a really touching moment.”
To learn more about Suki Kim’s memoir Without You, There is No Us, read our interview with the author here.
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