The Law on the Nursing and Upbringing of Children of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea stipulates that all the children shall be reared at the expense of the state and society at nurseries and kindergartens.
This law has invariably been enforced in the country.
The main guarantee is the people-oriented healthcare system enforced for nearly 70 years. The medical care system is, in the true sense of the word, for all the people, but its first beneficiary is the children. Hospitals give priority to their medical treatment, and the state takes special care of their health.
What is the most impressive in the country’s healthcare system for children is that the country closely combines their education with health service for them.
Nursing and education establishments are equipped with all the conditions for the children’s medical treatment. Not only nurseries, kindergartens and schools but the facilities for children’s extra-curricular activities have medical workers affiliated to them and are supplied with medical appliances and medicines so that they can provide first-aid treatment at emergencies.
In the Okryu Children’s Hospital, one of the modern hospitals in Pyongyang, there are classrooms, where young in-patients can follow on their curriculums even in the days in the hospital. It is quite natural to combine education and public health service for mental and physical growth and development of the children, but it is not common to make it a policy and implement it.
As regards the issue of bringing up children without parents or guardians, the DPRK is in the world’s spotlight. Bright smiles of the orphans, high-end facilities for nursing and teaching them and sincere attitudes of the motherly teachers are commonplaces at the baby homes and orphanages built in a modern fashion across the country.
