North Korea Ventures into AI: Establishing AI Departments and Researching ChatGPT

"Integration and Reorganization of Undergraduate Programs and Departments...
Efforts for Establishing New Departments"
"Only by Creating AI-Related Departments Can We Nurture Talented Individuals"

North Korea is planning to establish academic departments related to artificial intelligence (AI) at its universities.

According to the Workers' Party official newspaper Rodong Sinmun on July 9, the expanded meeting of the 12th Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee of the Party, held at the end of last month, discussed measures to innovate the educational structure.

Photo to aid understanding of the article. Getty Images.

The newspaper stated, "This year, North Korean universities have actively carried out efforts to integrate and reorganize undergraduate programs and departments, as well as to establish new departments," emphasizing that "only by prioritizing innovations such as the creation of departments related to artificial intelligence technology can we foster talented individuals."

North Korea has consistently shown interest in AI. On June 27, the website "Ryongnamsan" of Kim Il Sung University, one of North Korea's most prestigious institutions, posted that the university's Artificial Intelligence Technology Research Institute had "set a high goal of using GPT technology to even replace people's intellectual labor."

In an interview with the external propaganda outlet "Voice of Korea" in February, the Kim Il Sung University Artificial Intelligence Technology Research Institute demonstrated the use of ChatGPT, a conversational AI service developed by the American company OpenAI. At the time, Kim Il Sung University researcher Han Cheoljin stated, "It teaches us the key to deeply acquiring advanced technology and how to make it our own."

Another leading North Korean information technology research institution, the Central Science and Technology Information Agency, also covered ChatGPT from various angles in a special feature titled "The Present and Future of Artificial Intelligence" in the latest issue (2025, No. 2) of its bimonthly magazine "World of Science."