People-oriented Policies Enforced in Wartime

Even in the period of the Fatherland Liberation War (June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea enforced the people-oriented policies to protect their life and health and stabilize their living.

According to such decisions of the Cabinet as “Decision on taking measures for relieving war victims” (November 1950) and “Decision on taking general measures to stabilize the people’s living during the Fatherland Liberation War” (January 1951), a large number of war victims and war orphans were provided with food, daily necessaries, houses and other conveniences.

The Cabinet also adopted decisions “On lending food to the calamity-stricken peasants for their farming” in March 1952 and “On providing blue- and white-collar workers with dwelling houses” in September 1952 in order to provide poor and calamity-stricken peasants with conditions for their living and production and stabilize the living of blue- and white-collar workers and increase their real incomes.

Most typical one among the people-oriented policies enforced during the war is the universal free medical care system.

At that time, the State was short of money and most of the existing medical facilities were destroyed due to the war.

This being the situation, the DPRK government, on November 13, 1952, adopted a decision of the Cabinet on enforcing the universal free medical service at the State expense.

The decision stipulated that the charges for hospital treatment and medicines in the national curative and preventive institutions and the charges for medical treatment and medicines in the national outpatient curative and preventive institutions shall be free, and that the curative and preventive institutions of the Korean People’s Army shall enforce the universal free medical service for the civilians.

According to it, all the citizens of the country began to enjoy the benefits of the free medical care from January 1, 1953.

Witnessing the people-oriented policies of the government, the Korean people keenly felt that the system was the cradle of their life which guaranteed not only their present life but also their future, and devoted themselves to achieving victory in the war.

2021-03-11