Park Chan-mo |
By Kim Young-jin
A private university in North Korea operated by outside groups is allowing students to use the Internet for research, its chancellor said Sunday in a rare case of such access granted by the tightly-controlled communist state.
Park Chan-mo, chancellor of the recently-opened Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), said the school began providing the access last fall as part of its goal to become a “globalized university.”
“The Internet at PUST has been implemented since the spring semester of 2011 for the faculty members but graduate students have been using it since the fall semester of 2011,” he told The Korea Times via email. “The students are allowed to use the Internet for their classwork and research.”
The initiative, which goes beyond the North’s existing internal intranet system, appears to be the latest experiment by Pyongyang to allow greater access to technology following the recent establishment of a domestic 3G cell phone network.
Park, a U.S. citizen and former president of Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea, said students access the Web at a digital library and that his computer science students had used search engine Google for term projects.
North Korea remains one of the most sealed off countries in the world, with almost no public access to the Internet or news from the outside. The isolation has thus far continued under the fledgling leadership of Kim Jong-un, who has taken over after the death of his father Kim Jong-il in December.
It remains unclear how or if the students were supervised.
“There is a help desk in case students have questions on the use of the Internet,” Park said. “Since faculty members and the students are sharing the line we are using the Internet just for class and research related matters in order to prevent delays caused by many users at a time.”
The development appears to be a breakthrough for the fledgling university, which earlier had promised the Internet, in its bid to promote cooperation through science as well as peace on the peninsula.
Established by a South Korean non-profit organization and bringing together donations from the South, the United States and elsewhere, PUST opened its doors in 2010 with the goal to develop “the necessary economic and intellectual infrastructure to function as a member of the international community,” according to its website.
It is the only private and international university in North Korea with courses taught by foreigners in English, Park said. Much of its funding comes from contributions from evangelical Christian groups in the United States and the South, according to reports.
The school was inspired by the Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China and its inaugural class consisted of 160 undergraduate and master’s students picked by the government.
Some analysts say North Korea, which maintains its power in part through its tight control on outside information, is wrestling with how to advance technologically while maintaining control over the flow of information, and ultimately, the populace.
Though it remains in question to what extent the new regime will pursue badly-needed reforms, the North has made some efforts towards modernization including renovations in its capital. It has also pushed a system of computer-aided manufacturing called “Computer Numerical Control” in the name of Kim Jong-un, which analysts say is code for modernization.
Recently there have been other small signs of possible advancement including a recent paper published in the newspaper of Kim Il-sung University that emphasized the need for e-banking services. The paper also mentioned the use of credit cards, seen as a sign of capitalism.
Park said the Internet would contribute to the university reaching its targets.
“The goal of PUST is to make a globalized university and the Internet is contributing to achieving this,” Park said.
Pyongyang has said it will emerge this year as a strong and prosperous state in time for the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder Kim Il-sung in April.
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