Draft:Moranbong University

Moranbong University (Korean: 모란봉대학) is believed to be located somewhere within the Chung-guyok District (Central District) in Pyongyang, North Korea. Due to Moranbong University's highly secretive nature there is not a lot of clear information regarding topics such as; date of founding, location, and structure because of this most information relies on information acquired from North Korean defectors. It's exact location is believed to be across from the No.3 Government Building The No.3 Government Building is where the North Korean United Front Department, Liaison Department, Operations Department, and Room 39 are stationed which are placed in charge of both North Korea's administrative activities and their illicit activities such as smuggling, narcotics production, and anything which can build funds for the government. The goal of the university is considered top secret so it is not revealed to agents of the Operations Department.

History

There is dispute on what year Moranbong University was founded with South Korean newspapers Korea Herald and Yonhap News Agency claiming, 1990 was the year Moranbong University was built, while Mic media company an American media company and the Daily NK a South Korean newspaper specifically created for monitoring North Korea claim 1997 was the year it was founded.

Daily NK claims Moranbong University was founded after the 1996 Gangneung Submarine incident, an incident in which 26 North Korean spies had grounded a submarine to assasinate then-president Kim Young-Sam leading to an armed conflict over several weeks within South Korea. which led the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling part of the North Korean government, to rethink their strategy of collecting information about South Korea through on-the-ground spies.

Purpose

Moranbong University was founded specifically to educate students on code-breaking, hacking, and related subjects. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan Moranbong University maintains close ties with the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB; Korean: 정찰총국), the lead intelligence bureau in North Korea which has now slowly shifted its management focus to cyber operations. They are believed to send well-connected talented students to join Moranbong's hacking division. According to the New York Times, Moranbong University hosts several hacker-training programs specifically run by the RGB.

Internal Structure

As of 2009, 30 students are thought to attend Moranbong University each year. This is considered very small even for North Korea, Kim Il Sung University has approximately 16,000 students, pointing to Moranbong University's very exclusive nature. Over 200 graduates are also faculty at Moranbong University.

The Moranbong University program lasts five years as opposed to the usual four-year term. After being admitted students immediately receive official ranks as "First Lieutenant" (Korean: 중위) in the Korean People's Army, (KPA; Korean: 조선인민군) the combined military forces of North Korea, this means their time at Moranbong University also contributes to their mandatory military service which is required in North Korea. upon graduation with the first two years focusing on combat-ready classes, the remaining years focus on training the students in program languages effective for hacking. North Korean code-breaking students are believed to study abroad towards the end of their time in college meaning they were assumed to practice their hacking skills in Chilbosan Hotel, as of 2026, a now-closed North Korea-run hotel in Shenyang, China. Moranbong University is said to have higher quality equipment than other well-known college for code-breaking, Pyongyang University of Automation (Formerly Mirim University)