SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has stressed the importance of teaching economic issues in a letter to two prestigious local schools, in another sign that the country is scrambling to rejuvenate its economy.

   Kim sent the letters last week to teachers and students of Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and Kang Pan Sok Revolutionary School, celebrating the 65th anniversary of the founding of the schools.

   In the letter, carried in an English-language dispatch by the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim said "Kang Pan Sok Revolutionary School should raise the quality of education in economic subjects and bring up all students to be women revolutionaries of Songun era and true daughters of the party who can successfully perform the core role in the drive for building a great Paektusan nation."

   In the same letter, Kim also called for the schools' efforts to educate their students for "a high level of scientific and technological knowledge."

   The schools are special education institutions with access granted only to the children of war dead, or other high-ranking officials' families.

   Kim's powerful uncle Jang Song-thaek is among their alumni.

   Reflecting the North's increasing interest in education, the country's rubber-stamp parliament Supreme People's Assembly extended compulsory education by one year to a total of 12 years last month.

   The country has also sent a team of about 20 government and college officials to Sweden for a two-week visit aimed at studying the principles of market economies, according to sources.　
pbr@yna.co.kr
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