N. Korea opens some 190 technical schools: propaganda outlet

SEOUL, April 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has opened around 190 high schools specializing in information technology across the country, a propaganda outlet reported on Friday.

North Korea has emphasized the importance of science and technology, calling it a "strategic asset" needed to build a self-reliant economy as it wages a protracted struggle against crippling international sanctions amid stalemated denuclearization negotiations.

"Some 190 technical higher middle schools will begin with the new school year as part of the party's plan to foster more people in the field of technology and information," Uriminzokkiri, one of the North's propaganda websites, said.

Higher middle schools in North Korea are the equivalent of high schools in South Korea. Those schools are intended to offer in-depth teaching in specialized fields and provide job training.

Pyongyang has sent computer equipment to the new schools to provide high quality classes, the website said, adding that the North's northeastern province of Hamgyong and South Pyongan Province have also dispatched skilled teachers to the newly opened technical schools.

Another North Korean propaganda outlet, DPRK Today, said the technical schools were established to "foster people in information and technology across the country at the age of a knowledge-based economy when the role of technology is becoming more important by day in all aspects of the society."

The recent move appears intended to expand the scope of the country's technological education to secondary students from the previous education system that mainly focused on university students in Pyongyang.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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