Around 260 North Korean bureaucrats and other officials took part in an economic training program last year arranged by a nonprofit group in Singapore called the Choson Exchange, the group said on its website on Monday.

The North Koreans listened to lectures on economics and entrepreneurial topics. Most of the training took place in Pyongyang, but some was offered in Singapore and other foreign countries.

More than half of the participants were women, and 90 percent of those who took part in the overseas portion.

Geoffrey See, the founder of the group, visited North Korea on Dec. 24 to check if the training program would continue in 2014 after the execution of former eminence grise Jang Song-taek. He stayed in Pyongyang until the end of 2013 and interviewed nine fresh candidates.

North Korean officials are apparently pleased with the program and hope to see it continue.

