Editor’s note: The following is the third in a multipart memoir series written by Alek Sigley about his time studying at Kim Il Sung University.

The North Korean Ministry of State Security (MSS) agents who interrogated me at the end of my stay in North Korea accused me of being a spy. But of course, my real purpose for attending Kim Il Sung University was in fact to study. 

One of the classes a friend took was North Korean grammar, a compulsory course for foreign undergraduate students. The teacher writes a sentence on the blackboard and the students are tasked