North Korea: Introductory Sources: Education; Women of the DPRK

2016 article from East Asia Forum on the modernization of women's lives vs. the traditional Juche ideal.

by Bronwen Dalton, Kyungja Jung & Jacqueline Willis. (Asian Studies Review, Dec.1, 2017). "Drawing on 45 in-depth interviews with North Korean refugees, interviews with regular visitors to North Korea and NGO workers, and our own field notes from trips to North Korea, we analyse changes over three economic periods: the 1960s–90s pre-famine period; the mid-1990s to late 2000s grassroots capitalism era; and the current Kim Jong Un period of quasi-capitalism. As dress is a discursive daily practice of gender, we focus on the practice of femininity as shown through North Korean women’s fashion choices."

North Korea's first university, official founding day Oct.1,1946, with faculties in history & literature, economy & law, physics & math, engineering, agriculture, medicine, and transport engineering ,and had c.1500 students. Physical facilities and departments of study have greatly expanded since then. The university is also involved in international academic exchanges and joint research projects. Foreign students have been accepted since 1955.

"In July 1948 the engineering faculty and transport engineering faculty seceded from (Kim-Il-Sung University") and developed into Pyongyang Industrial College (now Kim Chaek University of Technology)"

Opened in 2010. According to a 38 North article, "the North Korean government handpicked the inaugural class of 100 undergraduates and 60 graduate students, including 40 grads who will study IT, selected from Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology. These are the most brilliant students in North Korea." Article, Pyongyang University and NK: Just Do IT!, Nov.1, 2010, Richard Stone.

The Diplomat: "Publicly available information in both Korean and English indicate that Pyongyang established Mirim College between 1984 and 1986 to educate and train “cyber warriors” for the North Korean military and intelligence agencies. From 2009 to 2020, U.S. intelligence reports indicated that Mirim College has trained roughly 1,300 hackers that are involved in various North Korean intelligence and military operations." Article, Mapping Major Milestones in the Evolution of North Korea’s Cyber Program, July 18, 2022, Jason Bartlett.