Why did NK not teach probability or stats until 2001?

North Korea did not teach students probability, a core subject in financial mathematics, until 2002, a Korean-American professor based in New York said Wednesday.

“Ten years ago, North Korean students had no idea what dice were,” said Lee Jung-hang, a math professor at Nyack College, in the 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education in southern Seoul. “North Korea began to include financial mathematics into its curricula in early 2000 when it introduced elements of market economics.”

At the time, dice and cards, which are common in capitalist society, were introduced to North Korean students for the first time, Lee said. Dice and cards are often used to explain mathematical probability and statistics. Probability is used frequently in studying lottery and gambling, while statistics are necessary for designing insurance products or predicting stock prices.

In the past, the North did not bother to teach statistics or probability in school because it had no capitalist system. After Russia and China began to teach the two subjects from the late 1990s, however, the North also revised its math textbooks in 2001 to include both subjects.

“North Korea started to accept elements of a market economy by adjusting prices and wages at realistic levels and offering incentives through economic management improvement measures in 2002,” said Jeong Seong-jang, a senior researcher at the South Korea-based Sejong Institute. “Such changes were reflected in textbooks.”

North Koreans are said to be highly interested in math education because students who excel in the subject can enter good schools regardless of status. Due to the high interest, the North finished seventh in the International Mathematical Olympiad last year.

Professor Lee said, “The North has recently tended to put high emphasis on mathematics and science, judging that its national competitiveness depends on its competitiveness in the sciences,” adding, “Math is a tool for injecting the party’s policy into ordinary students. For select talents, however, math is an essential subject for the country’s future.”

ilju2@donga.com