Pyongyang University of Science and Technology

Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) is North Korea's first institution of higher education founded, operated and partly funded by associations and people outside the country. The PUST has been jointly planned and constructed by forces from both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Republic of Korea, along with significant contributions from groups and individuals from other nations, in particular China. The university will have its official opening in September 2007, and plans to enroll up to 200 higher-level students per year, from both parts of Korea. Plans also include the hiring of up to 250 faculty members from prestigious universities and research institutions in South Korea, China, the United States, and other countries. The teaching will be in English. As a high-profile prestigious joint venture university, the PUST is seen as an important contribution to the Korean reunification process, in both practical and symbolic terms.

The project was started in 2001, on the initiative of Professor Chin Kyung Kim, whose earlier accomplishments include being Founding President of Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in the North-Eastern part of China, founded in 1992. The PUST will cooperate with YUST and draw on their experiences. The PUST construction plans were politically troubled and slowed down in 2005 and 2006, in connection with the 2006 North Korean nuclear test, but later on resumed and have led to their conclusion.

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