James Kim, Entrepreneur and Educator, Describes How He Built an S&T Relationship with North Korea

The first private university in North Korea, the decades-long dream of an American businessman from Korea, has been completed and will enroll its first students this spring, demonstrating the potential to build a science-based relationship with a nation often perceived as isolated.

James (Chin Kyung) Kim, the founder and president of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, said the institution is the first international university of its kind in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The university, built entirely with money and support from outside North Korea, hopes to offer Korean students the education, training and experience they would gain if attending colleges outside of that country.

The goal is to train a new generation of technical and business leaders to help guide the nation’s economic growth as it becomes more of a part of the world economy.

At a presentation given at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., Kim said classes are to begin in late spring with 60 graduate students and 150 undergraduates. Eventually, the university aims to have 2000 undergraduates, 600 graduate students and 250 faculty members.

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Author: Warren E. Leary