Other Names: Yŏngbyŏn Physics Junior College (寧邊物理專門學校), Yongbyon Physics University
Location: Pun’gang-chigu (分江地區), Yŏngbyŏn-kun (寧邊郡), North P’yŏng’an Province (平安北道), North Korea
Subordinate to: Probably the General Department of Atomic Energy (原子力總局), Cabinet (內閣); however, North Korean colleges are administratively under the control of the Department of Higher Education (高等敎育部) in the Ministry of Education (敎育省). There is an Education Bureau under the people’s committee in every city and/or Province (市·都人民委員會 敎育局), and it is in charge of forming education policy. The Science Education Department (科學敎育部) under the Korean Workers Party Central Committee exercises actual control and overall supervision of colleges.
Size: Approximately 1,500 students
Primary Function: Education and training
Description: Little is known about this facility. According to South Koreas National Intelligence Service, North Korea established a physics college and a physics junior college in the Yŏngbyŏn Nuclear Research Center in the 1980s. It is unclear if this means there are two separate schools, but it is more likely that there is one school with two different programs. The school was established to train technicians to operate the nuclear reactor, reprocessing facility, fuel fabrication plant and other facilities in the Yŏngbyŏn Nuclear Complex. According to North Korean defector Kim Tae Ho, the 43 Brigade under the Third Engineer Bureau of the Nuclear Development Unit (核開發部隊3工兵局 43旅團) is stationed at the Physics College.
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Updated April 2003 |
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Key Sources:
ROK National Intelligence Service, “Pukhan’ŭi Wŏnjaryŏk Chŏnmunillyŏk Yangsŏngshilt’ae,” <http://www.nis.go.kr>; Kang Ch’ŏl Hwan, “Haekkaebal Mecca Yŏngbyŏn Pun’gangjigu Saramdŭl,” Chosun Ilbo, 27 November 2001, <http://nk.chosun.com >; Kang Ch’ol-hwan, Chsoun Ilbo, 29 November 2001, in “Article on DPRK’s Nuclear Weapons Development Mecca—Graphic Attached,” FBIS Document ID: KPP20011129000123; Kim Yŏng Shik, “Haek Kaebal Ch’ongbonsan P’yŏngbuk Yŏngbyŏndanji,” Segye Ilbo, 30 April 1997, p. 17, in KINDS, <http://www.kinds.or.kr>; ROK Ministry of Unification, Pukhan Kaeyo 2000 (Seoul: Ministry of Unification, 1999), p. 488
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