Connections decide North Korea’s top children’s award, parents complain

A nepotism controversy is brewing in North Korea after a student with no notable achievements received the country’s prestigious Children’s Honor Award, fueling criticism and cynicism among parents and students.

North Korea awarded the Kim Il Sung Children’s Honor Award and Kim Jong Il Children’s Honor Award to members of the Korean Children’s Union to mark the organization’s 80th anniversary on June 6, 2026. The Korean Children’s Union is a mandatory mass organization for North Korean schoolchildren. In some areas, rumors quickly spread that personal connections drove the selection of winners.

“A middle school student in Chongjin’s Chongam district received the Kim Jong Il Children’s Honor Award for the anniversary,” a Daily NK source in North Hamgyong province said on Wednesday. “The student had done nothing special for the school and showed nothing remarkable in grades or organizational life, so students and parents started talking.”

The student was reportedly selected through connections to the central Socialist Patriotic Youth League, the mass organization that oversees young North Koreans and the Children’s Union. Separately, the district youth league demanded the award go to its own recommended student. As a result, one district unusually produced two award winners.

The Children’s Honor Award is the highest distinction a member of the Korean Children’s Union can receive. Winners are normally chosen through a comprehensive evaluation of grades, participation in Children’s Union activities and school events, and contributions to the “good deeds” campaign, which involves donating goods and labor to schools.

Material contributions have increasingly outweighed grades and organizational life in recent evaluations. But people around the controversial student agreed the child stood out in none of these areas, including donations.

The two students even received their awards differently. The student recommended by the district youth league was publicly recognized at a district rally marking the Children’s Union’s 80th anniversary. The controversial student quietly received the award through the school’s Children’s Union counselor.

Parents reacted sharply because the award carries consequences far beyond honor. Recipients of the Children’s Honor Award or its counterpart for older youth are celebrated as “child heroes” or “youth heroes.” They receive preferential treatment in university admissions and job placements.

“The Children’s Honor Award is not something just anyone can win. Plenty of schools have never produced a single recipient,” the source said. “Since the award affects university admission and future placement, parents naturally pay close attention.”

Complaints have erupted among Chongjin parents that the selection process is unfair. The award has long been promoted as a symbol of student excellence and loyalty. But suspicion is growing that it actually functions as a tool for guaranteeing advancement based on background and connections.

“Parents in Chongjin said it was demoralizing to watch corruption they had only heard about play out right next to their own children,” the source said. “Even students reacted by saying that studying all night and working hard in organizational life is useless.”

North Korean authorities used the Children’s Union anniversary to ramp up ideological education stressing the importance of study and organizational life. But criticism and cynicism continue to spread as awards meant for model students are decided by background and connections instead.

Reporting from inside North Korea

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