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Aug. 14 (UPI) -- North Korea's top university is building a high-tech development center, according to Pyongyang's state media. Workers' Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun reported Tuesday Kim Il Sung University, named after the founder of the country, is in the midst of constructing a tech development center, and the work began February 2017.
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The report was on prominent display on the first page of the party newspaper.
The new tech center occupies a 18,000-square-meter area and is likely being built to commemorate the upcoming 70th anniversary of national foundation, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
The tech center will "develop Kim Il Sung University into a first-class university and fulfill its mission as a new technology dissemination base, which will greatly contribute to the development of science education at universities and toward the establishment of state-of-the-art technology industries."
The policy corresponds to a North Korean strategy to "revolutionize science education," made public at the Third Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers' Party, in April 2018.
Education in information technology could be being given special emphasis under Kim Jong Un, according to Yonhap.
Cho Bong-hyun, a North Korea analyst at the Industrial Bank of Korea in Seoul, said the move is likely be followed by additional "investments" at other North Korean universities, including Kim Chaek University of Technology.
Kim Il Sung University was previously in the news in South Korea, when a joint investigation by local organization Korea Center for Investigative Journalism-Newstapa and German news groups revealed North Korean scholars, including those affiliated with the university, published in "bogus journals made by predatory publishers."
All 85 authors were from Kim Il Sung University, according to the recent report.
