School exchanges

Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong

March 2005, March 2006, May 2007, August 2008 and September 2009

Since 2005 we have organised annual trips for this Hong Kong-based international school where they travel to the DPRK and visit a middle school there. This has proven to be a great learning experience for both sides.

'...UWC provides small but powerful cells of innovation...opening up broader vistas of experience for both pupils and educationalists' Nelson Mandela
The visits for this tour have been eye-opening and more successful than we at first imagined; forging links between this school and their counterparts at a middle-school in Pyongyang has been one of the most worthwhile and rewarding efforts we have ever been involved in. Each tour involves a multi-national group of students visiting a school of similarly-aged pupils in Pyongyang, spending the day with them in their lessons, chatting and comparing experiences and opinions, taking part in shared sports events and finally performing music and dance shows for each other. The experience is genuinely life-changing for all of those involved and very different from the average school-trip. We are always willing to take in more school groups and education-based visitors, just get in contact if you want to get involved in such an important project

Dear Simon and Nick, thank you so much for all your work in arranging for our school group to visit North Korea, the first group of foreign students ever to visit DPRK. May I take this opportunity to than you for the for the wonderful job you both did in preparing our students for their experience, both through this information and the insight you provided, and through the impeccable attention to detail in your organisation. The students have had quiet a life-changing experience, and we remain indebted to you for all your efforts on our behalf. Needless to say, we are hoping to take another group of students to North Korea at the same time next year, and I look forward to working with you both once again towards that purpose.
-Dr Stephen Codrington

Link to the website of Dr Stephen Codrington who helped arrange and accompany these visits.

Sha Tin College, Hong Kong

October 2007

The second school to get involved in education trips to North Korea through us, this group of high-school students was accompanied by their teachers who had previously visited the country through Koryo Tours and were suitably impressed by the impact made by previous school trips. Highlights of this trip of course included the time spent at a normal Pyongyang school and the sports events (basketball this time) shared by the visitors and locals alike, as well as the note-perfect rendition of the song ‘Back in the DPRK’ at the farewell dinner (apologies to the Beatles).

Bring Your School Along!

School trips to North Korea are remarkably worthwhile and provide a unique experience for those who participate in the journey as well as for those who are met and interacted with on the ground, some of the things that can be expected on such tours include:

visiting schools for extended periods of time, sharing lessons with local students
meeting and interacting with young Koreans, most of whom have never spoken to a foreigner before, changing their perceptions of what foreigners are like and how they think
taking part in shared activities such as language lessons, sports matches, art performances, etc
visiting a place that is barely understood, exposing foreign students to the differences and similarities that exist in the lifestyles of people their age in a very different country
experiences that are extremely relevant to modern history and politics
post-visit the students will not soon forget their experiences; helps broaden the horizons of those who visit (as well as those they meet) and provides material for future classroom projects and discussions as well as fostering a more sophisticated understanding of complicated issues in school-age students