Sixteen professors from the United States and Europe arrived last weekend. For now, no South Korean professors are allowed, because of recent political tensions between the Koreas.

Of all the fantastic tales to come out of North Korea – the country’s leader is injected with the blood of virgin girls, he made 11 holes-in-one during his very first round of golf, each grain of rice he eats is inspected by hand for imperfections, his youngest son and would-be successor has had cosmetic surgery to make him resemble his grandfather – not one of these seems as improbable as the event that took place Monday, when a science university founded by American evangelical scholars began its first day of classes in Pyongyang, the capital of the secretive Communist state.

North Korea, the nuclear-armed “hermit kingdom,” is so poor there is almost no supply of concrete, bricks or window glass. People suffer shortages of rice, gasoline and even underwear. The Internet barely exists, not to mention computers…

In spite of all this, classes in technical English started last week at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. A fuller curriculum in information technology, business management and agriculture is supposed to get under way in March.

“It’s amazing and kind of a miracle,” said Park Chan-mo, one of the founders of the school, largely financed by contributions from evangelical Christian groups in the United States and South Korea. “Many people were skeptical, but we’re all Christians. We had faith.”

The driving force behind the school was Kim Chin-kyung, an American born in Seoul who founded a university in China in 1992. He made periodic trips from China into North Korea and in 1998 was arrested at his hotel in the capital and thrown into prison, accused of being an agent for the CIA.

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