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The ceremony took place in Mt.Hoemun, the stronghold of partisan guerrillas during the 1950-53 Korean War. Hundreds of former partisan guerrillas and others gathered there to declare it "a liberated area" and boast they “attacked the enemies, captured their weapons and wore uniforms taken off them." The “enemies” were South Korean forces. Participants claimed unification “has been all but achieved this year, which marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the (North Korean) Workers Party and the fifth anniversary of the June 15 inter-Korean joint declaration” of 2000. They also shouted old slogans vowing to protect North Korean command with their lives and crush the “Yankees."

Over 180 of our children listened and applauded and received letters of citation. Returning from the ceremony, they reported on their school website it was "a significant event indeed," and were full of praise for the "dear patriots who laid down their lives for the country.” “A conviction has emerged in my mind that I will keep throughout my life,” one teenager gushed.

It was their ethics teacher, a member of the Korea Teachers and Educational Workers Union, who led them as part of a course in "anti-war education," turning the school into a sort of unification combat training center. Former unconverted long-term prisoners openly visited the school. “Every word they spoke was so good,” the students reported. One, in a letter addressed to North Korean students, said everyone in the school was a unification fighter. Some diligent students wrote as many as 100 such letters each. So there it is: the education provided by the KTU has reached the point of turning our schoolchildren into worshippers of partisan guerrillas.

Why the deafening silence from the president and other government leaders, who are responsible for safeguarding the land?

The commemoration of the deaths of communist partisan guerrillas began as a national event just over a month after President Roh Moo-hyun assumed office. The police are said to have looked on. The memorial ceremony the students attended took place last year, but the police have just launched an informal investigation. If the chief executive keeps quiet, the matter will escalate into a scandal.