Location: Kanggye (江界市), Chagang Province (慈江道), North Korea

Subordinate to: The Science and Education Department (科學敎育部) under the Korean Workers Party Central Committee (朝鮮勞動黨中央委員會) exercises overall supervision, but the Department of Higher Education (高等敎育部) in the Ministry of Education (敎育省) manages administrative affairs. [Note: There are also education bureaus under the people’s committees in every city and/or province (市·都 人民委員會敎育局) that contribute to the formation of education policy, and the local education bureau could provide some input for the school.]

Primary Function: Education and training, research and development

Description: In 1994, the Korea National Defense College reportedly had a physics department that was conducting nuclear research, but this report is unsubstantiated. Defector Kenki Aoyama says the Korea National Defense College in Kanggye provides instruction on the production, operation procedures and launching of missiles. According to defector Ko Yŏng Hwan, his brother Ko Bang Nam graduated from the college’s Rocket Engine Department (로켓發動機學部).

	Updated April 2003

Key Sources:
Interview with North Korean defector “Kenki Aoyama” by Mari Sudo, research associate, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, 20 October 2002, Chiba Prefecture, Japan; Pak Hong Gi and Kim Chae Sun, “Kwisun Pukhan’oe’gyo’gwan Ko Yŏng Hwan Ssi 1 Mun 1 Tap,” Taehan Maeil, 14 September 1991, p. 3, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr>; Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., “Exposing North Korea's Nuclear Infrastructure—Part One,” Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1999, p. 38; Pukhan Kaeyo 2000 (Seoul: ROK Ministry of Unification, 1999), p. 488.