Korean Academy of Sciences

Academy of Sciences of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, founded in Pyongyang in 1952.

The academy originally had three sections: social sciences, with four institutes; engineering, with two institutes; and agricultural and medical sciences, with two institutes. Since the founding of the independent Academy of Agricultural Science and the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1963 and the Academy of Social Sciences in 1964, the academy has included research institutes in the natural sciences and engineering for physics and mathematics, geology and geography, engineering, ferrous metallurgy, nonferrous metallurgy, fuels, silicates, machine building, automation, industrial microbiology, experimental biology, zoology, botany, synthetic fibers, and chemical engineering. The academy has a branch in Hamhung with research institutes for organic, inorganic, macromolecular, and analytic chemistry, an observatory, and an experimental plant. The academy includes the State Committee on Science and Technology and coordinates the work of the academies of medical and agricultural sciences. Its president is Kim Ung-sam.