New Russian Educational Program to Teach Students Learn About ‘Friendship’ with North Korea

Twenty pupils will take the new course that will teach the students learn about "friendship" with the North Korea. The program will be offered by a school in Khabarovsk - a city in the far eastern part of Russia.

According to a report published Wednesday on International Business Times, the course aims to "deepen the time-tested friendship" of the two countries. Also, a wall inside the school displayed the pictures of of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to highlight the objective of the course - to promote friendship between Russia and North Korea.

"The opening of such a class is yet one more friendly act [to go] into the coffer of relations between Russia and North Korea," Khabarovsk Mayor Alexander Sokolov said according to an article posted Wednesday on The Moscow Times.

"The friendship of our people has been tested by time, starting from the years during World War II when Russian soldiers came to assist North Koreans."

He added, "Over time, that friendship has only grown stronger. Our task is to strengthen our warm relations at all levels, starting with students and ending with cities."

Gubernia news portal reported Tuesday that the number of students who will take the course is expected to expand. Also, Korean language might be added to the syllabus.

A North Korean consular official also said that the program "will help the children of our countries to get in touch with each others' traditions and culture."

The new course will be taken up by the students at the start of the semester at school no. 5 in Khabarovsk, which is located 19 miles from the border of China and about 470 miles from the border of North Korea.

Meanwhile, this is not the first school to offer such program, as another school in Khabarovsk has been offering a course that teaches about friendship between Russia and North Korea.