Founded in 20 March 1949, the university's aim is to educate the Korean minority in Northeast China. It is the only university in China that employs Korean as an official medium of instruction in addition to Chinese.

The university offers eleven programs of Economics, Philosophy, Law, Pedagogy,Literature, History, Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Medicine, Management, etc. It consists of 12 colleges, which offer 70 bachelor's degree programs, 78 master's degree programs, and 22 doctoral degree programs.

In 2004,the student body amounted to 16,413 students, including 16,000 undergraduates, 3,000 postgraduates, 143 doctoral candidates, 700 foreign students and 4,674 adult students. Most foreign students come from South Korea,Japan, the United States, and Russia. The faculty comprises 1,300 fulltime teachers of whom 700 are professors and associate professors.