teaching computer science in the DPRK
(aka North Korea)

On 23 September 2015, I boarded Air Koryo flight JS152 from Beijing to Pyongyang. I was going to the DPRK to teach computer science at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST). Boarding that plane was one of the scariest decisions I’ve ever made—you hear so many horror stories in the news about North Korea, and part of me worried that I’d be sent straight to jail as an American spy. But I’m so glad I went. It was an amazing experience, both for me and my students.

Officially, I was there to teach classes on discrete math and algorithm design. Here’s a picture of me giving a lecture on open source software to a group of local DPR Korean students and professors:

But through our interactions I also had the opportunity to share stories about my life in the United States. I frequently had students tell me things like:
It’s so nice to finally meet Americans in real life and realize that you’re not as scary as I thought you were.

In return, the Koreans taught me about their lives in the DPRK. I learned that they’re a smart, friendly, talented, and very hard working people. Everyone I met was genuinely doing their best to improve both their local communities and their country. Oh, yeah, and their Korean burritos are amazing!

To get to the DPRK, I had to leave my wife and family behind in the US. So I made a series of photojournals to share with them and stay connected. I’m sharing them with you in the hope you can learn a little bit about the DPRK and PUST. In particular, I hope that you’ll agree with me that educational exchanges are an amazing way to build bridges between countries as different as the DPRK and US.

Journals from my first trip in 2015:
Week 1:
arrival in Pyongyang, a PUST campus tour, meeting the students, and favorite programming languages
Week 2:
sports day, singing and dancing, the PUST sneakernet, student side projects, a trip downtown, and talking about peacemaking
Week 3:
a national holiday, Thomas Jefferson, pizza, Dragon Mountain, a drunk dude, and Bongsu church
Week 4:
an international conference, open source software, and a city tour
Week 5:
the PUST farm, Myonghangsan, and conscientious objection
Week 6:
more midterms, the diplomat’s club, swimming, a beanie, and a special prayer.
Week 7:
some news about spies, improving an ancient ritual of Christendom, a Polish concert, and a hair cut
Week 8:
Thanksgiving, the children’s palace, and the Syrophonecian woman
Week 9:
American nukes, the subway system, the grand people’s study house, and Chilgo church, and snow!
Week 10:
Flying back to the US! And a postmortem on my discrete math and algorithms classes.

I loved my time at PUST, so I went back again in 2016. This time with Kristen!

Journals from my second trip in 2016
Kristen (my wife) writes her perspective on visiting PUST, crawling under barbed wire, visiting the Korean War museum, and the “Mexican” museum
the 200 days campaign
a big (mac) surprise

I’d love to go back to PUST again if I get the chance. Actually, I was scheduled to go for a third trip in 2017, but President Trump banned Americans from travelling to the DPRK. I think this is a major blunder. There’s already so much misunderstanding between the DPRK and the US, and PUST is a great way to have citizens from our two countries working together, building understanding and friendships. Historically, academic exchanges have been widely successful in improving diplomatic relations between countries.

Whenever the travel ban gets lifted, I hope to return to PUST and continue working to build a friendship between the US and the DPRK. If you’re interested in going, here’s the list of currently open positions.

These posts are only my own reflections on my time at PUST, and don’t necessarily represent PUST’s official position on anything.