SEOUL, October 7. /TASS/. The Russian language, as well as English, may be required to learn at North Korean higher education institutions, South Korean media said on Tuesday referring to Pyongyang’s sources.

Within the national education program attention will be paid to learning foreign languages, the reports said.

DPRK leader Kim Jong-un has repeatedly stressed the need to learn foreign languages at local schools, The Korea Gerald Newspaper said. “Kim, on various occasions, stressed the issue of strengthening foreign language education at colleges,” the  newspaper said.

Due to this fact the North Korean authorities hope to make the access to foreign high technology easier and improve the internal economic situation, it said.

The Russian or English languages will be required to learn at higher education institutions. North Koreans can also learn the Chinese and Japanese languages on their free own will. 

South Korean observers say this is explained by the country’s leadership priority - to get access to foreign technology, primarily to technical matters.

From 2012 12-years education in North Korea is free and compulsory. Specialised language schools exist in the country. Foreign languages are learnt at such famous higher education institutions as Kim Il-sung University, Kim Chaek University of Technology and the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies.