N. Korea marks completion of joint tech university: report

SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea held a ceremony Wednesday marking the
completion of a science university jointly built with donations from the South,
the North's media reported.
The North's Korea Central News Agency reported the event was held to celebrate
the completion of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, whose
construction was started in 2002. Jon Kuk-man, North Korea's vice minister of
education, and other education officials attended the event.
The university was built with donations collected over the years from the South
to help train young North Koreans with advanced technology and boost inter-Korean
reconciliation. But it is still unclear when the school will open, with South
Korea withholding faculty exchanges and shipments of computers amid the
diplomatic stalemate over the North's nuclear drive.
A day earlier, the South Korean government gave permission for the 20-member
delegation -- including an aide to President Lee Myung-bak and people mostly from
a religious foundation -- to attend the ceremony.
The visiting team was led by Kim Jin-kyung, president of the Yanbian University
of Science and Technology in the Korean autonomous prefecture of Yanbian,
northeastern China. Kim has been designated as president of the university.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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