“I believe that North Korea not only has disciplined people, but also maintains traditional culture and traditions.”
Thailand’s education minister is facing criticism after expressing his admiration for North Korea’s ability to instill “discipline” in its students.
The minister was speaking during a meeting with the North Korean ambassador to Thailand when he made his remarks. Thai PBS World reports that a post about the meeting on the ministry’s Facebook page subsequently went viral and has now been deleted.
The post had shown photos of Education Minister Permpoon Chidchob meeting with Ambassador Kim Je Bong at the ministry on January 19. According to the post, the ambassador had paid a courtesy call to the ministry to congratulate Permpoon on his appointment last September.
PHOTO: Matichon
It’s understood their talks primarily revolved around education in both Thailand and North Korea, with Permpoon saying he admired North Korea’s ability to instill discipline, patriotism, and respect for leadership in its students. He then added that he wanted to take lessons from North Korea on instilling discipline in students.
“I believe that North Korea not only has disciplined people, but also maintains traditional culture and traditions. Given the opportunity, I hope to visit North Korea to study its culture and exchange experiences.”
His remarks caused the post to go viral, prompting a backlash from Thai netizens, who were already questioning why the meeting had taken place at all.
We can only imagine the minister had confused his ‘Koreas’.
Most commenters said they can’t see any advantage to engaging with a country like North Korea, given its reputation for human rights’ violations, political repression, forced labour camps and lack of basic freedoms.
And crappy education system.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World