SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- A revised compulsory education system that will go into effect in North Korea in the April back-to-school season may face difficulties in the short-term due to lack of resources needed to put the system into practice, experts said Wednesday.

   The country's Supreme People's Assembly session approved the education bill last September to expand the 11-year compulsory education system by one more year. The bill also divides its six-year secondary education course into two, three-year curriculums.

   The country has hailed the decision as a means of advancing its capabilities in the science-technology field, but a North Korean newspaper article raised skepticism over whether the country is ready for its implementation.

   In the article carried by the mainstream newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Tuesday, Kim Yong-chol, an official at Kim Hyung-jik University of Education, said, "one of the pressing issues for successfully implementing the 12-year compulsory education system is teacher training."

   Teachers are desperately required to be prepared in accordance with today's educational needs, Kim added in a remark implying that the country is currently insufficiently prepared ahead of the new system taking effect.

   North Korean analysts in Seoul also conveyed skepticism over the North's effective implementation, citing that the communist country did not have a lot of time to prepare after the changes were approved.

   "Since Kim Jong-un took power, North Korea has been focusing on education reforms, but the conditions for training teachers and procuring education tools and materials are not that easy given the (difficult) environment the country is facing domestically and externally," said Yang Moo-jin, a political science professor at the University of North Korean Studies. "The country may take some time and face difficulties in the short run before the new system takes off."

   pbr@yna.co.kr
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