The only private school in a very private country
May 12, 2017 11:13 AM   Subscribe

North Korea has a private, foreign-funded university. The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology is largely funded and staffed by evangelical Christians, some of whom have been arrested for "hostile acts" against the state and at least one of whom was undercover to write a book. Other support is provided by China and PUST's sister school, the Yanbian University of Science and Technology.
posted by Etrigan (6 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
The book in question is an excellent read, though I'm kind of shocked that the school wasn't closed down altogether after it was published. If nothing else, there's no way that Suki Kim is ever welcome back in NK.
posted by Itaxpica at 11:17 AM on May 12, 2017


I read the news stories, and neither addressed the obvious question: how on earth is a private, foreign-funded university allowed to operate in North Korea? Such a thing would never have been dreamed of in the Soviet Union, and NK is a hell of a lot more closed and paranoid. Is it just to get hard currency into the country?
posted by languagehat at 1:06 PM on May 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


"I read the news stories, and neither addressed the obvious question: how on earth is a private, foreign-funded university allowed to operate in North Korea? "

I read the book, and some associated reporting, and it seemed like North Korea has hardly any scientific capacity (unlike the USSR), and PUST is viewed as bringing them technological expertise (computers, internet, international finance, computer-aided agriculture) and English-language skills that they can then use to outcompete and/or sabotage Western countries. The Evangelical Christians who run it CLEARLY and fully believe they're making inroads for Jesus, but a more jaundiced eye suggests they're held at a fairly robust arm's-length by the regime and the students and in their naivete they're being used to provide technical and English language skills the regime lacks. The people who run the school clearly think they're using technology as an inroad to bring in Jesus, so everybody's busy using everyone else for secret aims. (Many of the teachers, by contract, are Korean-Americans who feel very passionately about reunification and/or openness between the two Koreas. Many are evangelicals, but I think their passion for Korea is more motivating than a conversion desire.)

Anyway, it's a super-interesting book. We talked about it before here.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:08 PM on May 12, 2017 [6 favorites]


Wow -- thanks -- this is fascinating. I clearly need to learn more about North Korea.
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:18 PM on May 12, 2017


Science and technology university... funded by evangelical Christians... in North Korea...

I feel like one of those poor robots that Captain Kirk short circuits with a logical paradox.
posted by mondo dentro at 8:23 AM on May 13, 2017 [5 favorites]


To mondo dentro's point, I find it ironic that the one morsel of secular, research-based, STEM education that evangelicals are involved in teaches the brainwashed charges that will graduate to support an autocratic government.
posted by prepmonkey at 11:01 AM on May 15, 2017


« Older is it not better to instead kill one hundred......   |   A Royal Pain Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments