▲ North Korean Minister of Education Ri Yong-chol met with a delegation led by Konstantin Mogilevsky, Russia's deputy minister of science and higher education participating in the 2nd North Korea-Russia University Rectors Forum, at the Pyongyang Assembly Hall on September 29, the Korean Central News Agency reported on September 30.
The education ministers of North Korea and Russia held talks in Pyongyang and agreed to expand exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the field of education.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that talks between North Korean Minister of Education Ri Yong-chol and Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov took place yesterday (October 19) at the Pyongyang Assembly Hall.
North Korea's Vice Minister of Education Ri Chang-sik and Russian Ambassador to North Korea Andrei Leonidovich Podelyshev also attended the meeting.
The news agency reported that during the talks, "achievements and experiences gained in the field of education between the two countries were shared, and issues to expand and develop future bilateral exchanges and cooperation were discussed," while specific details of the agreement were not disclosed.
The Russian Ministry of Education delegation, led by Minister Kravtsov, arrived in Pyongyang the previous day.
The delegation visited Pyongyang Pedagogical University No. 2 and signed a supplementary agreement on the establishment and operation of a Russian education center with Blagoveshchensk State Pedagogical University.
As a result, a specialized Russian language education facility is expected to be established in Pyongyang.
The delegation also visited Mangyongdae Revolutionary School, a special educational institution established in 1947 for the children of "anti-Japanese revolutionaries" that primarily grooms the children of senior party, government, and military officials into future leaders.
The delegation laid flowers at the Liberation Tower, a monument commemorating Soviet soldiers killed while driving out Japanese forces from the northern part of the Korean Peninsula in 1945.
A welcoming banquet hosted by North Korea's Ministry of Education was also held.
Cooperation between North Korea and Russia, which has evolved into a "blood alliance," is expanding beyond politics and the military into the education sector.
TASS news agency reported that plans are underway to establish a representative office of Kim Il Sung University at Novosibirsk State University (NSU) in Siberia, Russia, and begin operations within this year.
Kim Il Sung University will dispatch faculty members to NSU to open Korean language courses and teach North Korean history, culture, and traditions.
Last month (September), the two countries also signed an agreement on mutual recognition of university academic degrees to facilitate academic exchanges.
(Photo: KCNA, Yonhap News)
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