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Friday, June 29, 2007

High on North Koreans' wish list: English dictionaries from the South

SEOUL — South Korean dictionaries are the most sought-after books in North Korea these days, according to recent defectors and Chinese-Korean business people along the Sino-North Korea border.

A Chinese-Korean businessman in Danoung, China said foreign language fever, which was limited to the capital city of Pyongyang in the past, was now spreading through major cities of North Korea.

"Naturally, South Korean dictionaries with their good-quality paper are in big demand among students and the newly-emerging rich who want them for their children," said the businessman.

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Young-Sook Im, 19, from the North Korean harbor city of Chongjin, north Hamgyong province, was thrilled to be given a Korean-English and a English-Korean dictionary by her teacher as a gift on the first day at a high school in Seoul this year.

"Only one student from a very special family had a dictionary like this in the entire school in my hometown," she recalled "We were so envious of her." English-Korean or Korean-English dictionaries are a rarity in North Korea.

The paper quality of North Korean dictionaries was so poor that the pages tore off after being used only a few times, according to Im. "I couldn't believe my ears when students here said they had been using their dictionaries everyday and for years."

"Essence" English-Korean dictionaries from Minjung Seogwan publishing house are sold at 420 Yuen (U.S.$54) in Dandung, but are delivered to customers in North Korea for 210,000 North Korean Won (about U.S. $80).

Upper-class North Korean citizens order them from traveling merchants from China, according to business people in China.

Chinese-Korean businessmen frequenting North Korea say that several factors are contributing to the foreign language study boom in North Korea.

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