It's Now Mr. Kim Jong Un, Thanks to Malaysian University
【Source：The Wall Street Journal】
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Malaysian university has given North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un a new title – Dr. – offering the controversial figure its first degree to a foreign head of state.
Mr. Kim Jong Un might seem like an unlikely recipient for a university's degree. But, despite grabbing world-wide headlines through a series of nuclear missile tests and threats to strike U.S. cities, he received an honorary doctorate in economics from Kuala Lumpur-based HELP University.
Paul Chan, vice chancellor and president of HELP, said the award was meant to build “a bridge to reach the people” of North Korea. He said Mr. Kim accepted the degree through his ambassador in a ceremony that was held Oct. 3 in North Korea's embassy in Malaysia.
“I hope that [by] using this soft, constructive approach, we can help them and North Asia and the world to be a better place for mankind,” Mr. Chan said in a four-page statement.
An official biography of Mr. Kim isn't available. Even the year of his birth is in doubt: He was born in 1983 or 1984, according to the South Korean government. He studied for a few years at an international school in Switzerland in the 1990s and returned to attend a military academy in Pyongyang.
For decades, Malaysia has maintained diplomatic relations with the hermit kingdom. Malaysian travelers aren't required to apply for a visa if they plan to stay under than 30 days. The two countries signed an agreement to partially abolish visa requirements in April 2000, according to Malaysia’s foreign ministry.
The university, a unit of HELP International Corporation Bhd listed on the Malaysian stock exchange, has more than 10,000 students from over 60 countries, and offers degrees ranging from business to information technology. The school is known for making headline-sparking moves, such as when it gave a full scholarship to a 10-year-old Singaporean whiz kid.
Mr. Chan, a co-founder of HELP, said he hoped that the gift to Mr. Kim would further cooperation between North Korea and Malaysia in the field of education, according to North Korean state news agency Korean Central News Agency.
“I anticipate that it is a matter of time, within the next six years or so, that [the Democratic People's Republic of] Korea will engage the world in many constructive ways,” Mr. Chan said in the statement.
When that happens, Mr. Chan says, countries will rush in to offer assistance and investments to North Korea.
“I am just a bit ahead of them in that I feel no one at this moment has the courage to do this, though their hearts tell them to do so,” he added.
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