Suwon Uman Elementary School 'Reunification Club' Sets New Milestone in Reunification Education
[News S=Reporter Lee Min-jeong] Suwon Uman Elementary School (Principal Lee Song-mi, hereinafter Uman Elementary) is drawing attention as it uniquely operates the 'Tongmuneeo (Reunification Expert Community)' club program among schools in the Suwon area, setting a new milestone in reunification education.
From July to November, Uman Elementary is conducting inter-Korean mutual understanding education and experiential-focused reunification education through the operation of the 'Tongmuneeo Club Program' in cooperation with the Gyeonggi Province Office of Education and the Korea Reunification Foundation.
Uman Elementary's reunification club offers after-school ceramic and glass experience classes as part of "Blooming the Flower of Reunification through Crafts," and as an experiential reunification program, visited the Ministry of Unification's 'South-North Integrated Culture Center' for the Tongmuneeo reunification outing, conducting various leisure culture and art experience activities.
At the South-North Integrated Culture Center, activities include △VR cultural experience for "Road to Reunification" △matching North-South Korean terminology quizzes △writing letters to myself in a unified Korean peninsula, as well as △making unified Korean peninsula mood lights △ceramic and glass craft experiences, providing opportunities for emotional reunification education as students design and create works infused with their own sensibilities.
Through the 'Reunification Quiz King' survival quiz competition with participation from approximately 120 students, the school is conducting practical experiential reunification education, helping students understand commonalities and differences in North-South Korean language and expanding their understanding of North Korean culture through reunification knowledge questions.
Notably, Uman Elementary has a significant number of students from North Korean defector families and continuously provides academic support, cultural activities, emotional support, home visits, and counseling to these students.
Additionally, the school operates the 'True Friends Connect' program pairing these North Korean defector family students with close friends, helping them form healthy peer relationships and supporting happy school life, thereby conducting vivid reunification education. The school is being recognized as presenting a new model for reunification education in other schools.
Kim Seo-yun, a 6th-grade student in the reunification club, said, "Experiencing North Korea through VR, which had seemed so distant, was fascinating and moving. Designing the unified Korean peninsula mood light myself and thinking about what a unified Korea would look like made it very rewarding."
Lee Jun-hyeok, a 4th-grade student at Uman Elementary, said, "Writing a letter to myself for when our country becomes unified helped me feel emotions about reunification."
Principal Lee Song-mi of Uman Elementary stated, "Through field experience activities of the reunification club and ceramic and glass experience programs for 'blooming reunification flowers,' opportunities are being provided for students to experience reunification up close rather than from a distance. I hope that reunification education becomes a good catalyst for improving awareness of North Korean defectors and their families living with us as neighbors and for forming consensus in raising interest in reunification."