After 4-year hiatus, foreign academics return to North Korea

By Efe Ozkan

ISTANBUL (AA) - Foreign academics have returned to Pyongyang, for the first time in four years since North Korea had closed its borders due to COVID-19.

A group of foreign professors entered North Korea's only international private university after Pyongyang issued them visas, according to Tae Yong-ho, secretary general of Seoul-based Peaceful Unification Advisory Council.

"North Korean authorities issuing the visas means that they will ensure the safety of foreign professors," Tae said, according to Yonhap News.

Pyongyang University of Science and Technology was established in 2010, funded by a South Korean NGO and North Korea's Education Ministry. The faculty consists of European and US nationals, including Korean Americans, and all lectures are given in English.

All of the professors at the university had to leave Pyongyang as North Korea closed its border in early 2020 over the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, they have operated college lectures online.

Since North Korea began reopening its border in August 2023, it has partially approved the entry of foreigners, including diplomats from countries sharing socialist values with the North or Russian tourists.