The News Minute | November 25, 2014 | 4:20 pm IST
High school students in North Korea will have to dedicate 81 hours to studying the life and work of supreme leader Kim Jong-un as part of a new compulsory subject created this year, the South Korean television channel KBS reported Tuesday.
Kim Jong-un's life and accomplishments will be divided into three years of secondary schooling in the country, according to KBS which had access to the official education plan drawn up by North Korea's Education Commission.
North Korean adolescents already spend 160 hours in studying the life and work of the communist state's founder, Kim Il-sung, and another 148 hours to the late dictator Kim Jong-il, who are, respectively, the grandfather and father of the current leader.
Despite the extreme personality cults built around the leaders in North Korea, people are unaware of even basic details about their leaders, such as where they live and if they have children.
Even their age is kept a secret, though experts believe that Kim Jong-un was born in 1983.
It is considered improbable that these details will be revealed to the students as a part of their new curriculum, the television channel said.
The classes will focus on the birth and the first years of Kim from materials distributed by the Workers' Party, which, along with the Korean People's Army, are the two pillars of the totalitarian state.
The students will also study the quotes, guidelines and orders given by Kim to his party as well as to the army.
The new subject is believed to be a part of the efforts of the leader to consolidate his monolithic power ahead of the third anniversary of his taking office in December.
At the moment, it is unknown if the studies will include fictional stories to strengthen the cult of the supreme leader as was done in the case of the father and grandfather to whom implausible feats are attributed, such as having authored thousands of books.
IANS