Long-time North Korea watchers will be familiar with the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST).

The project has been planned and talked about for years and always seemed ready to start “next year.” Well, that time has finally come, according to a report in the New York Times.

The first classes, in technical English, began this week and will be followed by a fuller curriculum in March.

Yonhap earlier reported on some of the details of the opening. It said 17 foreign professors would be traveling to Pyongyang for the opening and that 160 students have been selected for the undergraduate and master’s degree courses. They cover agriculture, information and communication technology, and industry and management.

Classes are taught in English and students will have Internet access.

Internet access was something that had always been promised at the university, which was first planned in 2001 by South Korean and North Korean groups. The NY Times report goes more into the interesting history of the project.

The PUST Web site hasn’t been updated since 2009 in Korean and 2008 in English.

Full story: New York Times, Yonhap