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Kim Jong-un pushes for policy to train future hackers

More North Korean students are set to compete at international programming contests, signaling the reclusive regime’s focus on raising IT experts at a time when cyber warfare is being fought around the globe.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally endorsed the idea of sending off talented students to major programming competitions to win awards and, at the same time, highlight the country’s technological prowess.

A monthly magazine published in Japan by a pro-Pyongyang organization cited a high-ranking North Korean official in charge of education policy as saying that Kim gave an order to send more students to computer-related events.

“Kim Jong-un instructed systematizing the participation in international contests in a bid to let the whole world know the glory of the nation by obtaining greater achievements from reputable programming events,” the official said in an interview with the media.

North Korea is already proving its programming edge. At CodeChef, a coding contest held by a firm in India, a North Korean team comprised of students from Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang won the top prize in June, outsmarting some 3,400 teams from more than 100 countries.

Another North Korean team from Lee Gwa Daehak, or the Institute of Natural Science, took first place in the March edition of CodeChef.

North Korea does not have enough IT infrastructure comparable to South Korea where a host of tech heavyweights such as Samsung are producing cutting-edge smartphones and solutions. But Pyongyang is keen to arm young students with programming knowledge.

The North is reportedly expanding its cyber warfare unit. In 1998 when the unit was set up, it had only 500 elite-level hackers; now the number is projected to surpass 2,000, with its members including teenage computer prodigies and graduates from Pyongyang’s top universities.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)