Elementary schools in Pyongsong, South Pyongan province, began collecting money from students within days of starting the fall semester, charging fees for a Sept. 9 flower basket ceremony and for cleaning supplies used to maintain portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in classrooms, adding to the financial burden on parents just as the school year got underway.
A Daily NK source in South Pyongan province said on Monday that Pyongsong’s elementary schools resumed classes on Sept. 1 after summer break. “Less than a week after the semester started, a directive came down ordering students to pay money, and parents were stunned,” the source said.
North Korea holds ceremonies presenting flower baskets to statues and other symbols of the Kim family on major anniversaries, including Kim Il Sung’s birthday on April 15, Kim Jong Il’s birthday on Feb. 16, the Sept. 9 regime founding day and the Workers’ Party of Korea’s founding anniversary on Oct. 10. This year’s Sept. 9 observance again saw institutions and organizations across the country hold related events, and Pyongsong’s elementary school students took part on a school-by-school basis.
As in previous years, the cost of preparing the flower baskets was passed on to students, which in turn fell on their parents. One Pyongsong elementary school collected 5,000 North Korean won per student in each class for the flower baskets. Some classes collected an additional 700 won per student to replace so-called “devotion tools,” including the rags used to clean the Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il portraits.
School fees compound existing financial pressure
At North Korean schools, students clean the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il hanging on classroom walls each morning before class, and schools periodically inspect the condition of the tools used for this task. Around holidays such as Sept. 9, in particular, schools tend to tighten management of the classroom portraits and cleaning supplies while emphasizing loyalty to the leadership, according to the source.
As a result, some students at the school paid a combined 5,700 won each, covering both the 5,000 won flower basket fee and the 700 won devotion-tool fee.
“When a major holiday like Sept. 9 approaches, even young students now know the school is going to ask for money again,” the source said. “This time, on top of the flower basket fee, an additional charge was added, and some parents’ frustration boiled over.”
The flower basket fee is not limited to schools. Parents are also charged separately through their workplaces and inminban, the neighborhood watch units used to monitor and mobilize residents, meaning the total a single household must pay can more than double.
Similar fee collection tied to the Sept. 9 holiday emerged at elementary schools in Hyesan, Ryanggang province, right after the start of the term.
A Daily NK source in Ryanggang province said elementary schools in Hyesan recently collected between 7,000 and 10,000 won per student to cover the cost of the Sept. 9 flower baskets. “Workplaces and neighborhood watch units collect money under the same pretext, so many people said that when a holiday comes around, they worry more about the financial burden than feel any sense of loyalty,” the source said.
“For people who are well off, 10,000 won might not feel like much, but for a struggling family, it’s by no means a small amount,” the source added. “Given how hard it already is to get by, this added burden means some families still can’t manage a proper meal of rice even on a holiday.”
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September 14, 2026 at 07:41PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)