Pyongyang University of Science and Technology: Finding its Place in a Changing International Landscape
Rome Auditorium
1619 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) invites you to a discussion with Dr. Yu-Taik Chon and Dr. Charles Sands as they discuss the difficulties and development they have witnessed at PUST. Not only an educational institution, PUST aims to equip bright young people with the ability to interact with the international community and deal with difficulties in their own country. As tensions increase between North Korea and the U.S., the university has faced difficulties in attaining resources, funding and the necessary permissions for certain academic materials.
Registration opens at 2:15 PM | Q & A session will follow presentations.
Featured Speakers
Dr. Yu-Taik Chon
President of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology
Dr. Yu-Taik Chon is the current, and second ever, President of PUST. He has taught at PUST since 2010 and previously taught at Yanbian University of Science and Technology. Before teaching in China and North Korea, Dr. Chon spent 30 years in the oil industry working for companies like Gulf Oil Corp and British Petroleum. He holds a M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and B.A. from Seoul National University.
Dr. Charles Sands III
Vice President of the Medical Division of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology
Dr. Charles Sands III is currently the Vice President of the Medical Division of PUST, where he had previously been a professor since 2013. He spent 20 years at the Wallace Memorial Baptist Hospital in Busan, South Korea and previously worked at Yanbian University Medical College in Yanji, China. Dr. Sands has also taught at the McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. Sands studied the Korean language and culture at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.
Dr. Jae H. Ku
Director of The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
Jae H. Ku is the Director of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Before joining the USKI, he was the Director of the Human Rights in North Korea Project at Freedom House. He has taught at SAIS, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Brown University, Yonsei University, and Sookmyung Women’s University. Dr. Ku holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and A.B. from Harvard University.
