Amid reports that foreign professors are set to return to Pyongyang University of Science and Technology(PUST), North Korea's only international private university, four years after the COVID-19 outbreak, the South Korean government said none of them are South Korean nationals.

While stating that Seoul is well aware of the latest development during a press briefing on Monday, unification ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam declined to confirm related details.

According to Tae Yong-ho, secretary general for The Peaceful Unification Advisory Council in Seoul, some of the foreign professors entered the North late last month following issuance of their visa, practically the first long-term visa for those from the West since the pandemic.

The PUST, jointly established between South Korea's Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture(NAFEC) and the North's education ministry in 2010, has professors from foreign countries, mostly from the U.S. and Europe.