Children’s Rights in the DPRK

The law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on providing the children’s rights is geared to developing the system for providing children with rights and ensuring their rights and interests to the maximum in all fields including social life, education, public health, family and jurisdiction.

The law stipulates that the state shall provide the children with all the best things needed to promote their health, education and life on a preferential basis true to the principle of “All the best things for the children!”

A typical example of this is the fact that the Workers’ Party of Korea, at the Third Plenary Meeting of its Eighth Central Committee in June Juche 110 (2021), discussed the issue of improving the childcare policy and adopted an important policy of supplying dairy produce and other nutritious foods to all the children across the country at the state’s expense.

True to this policy, dairy produce is regularly supplied to children on top and absolute priority basis.

Having enforced free compulsory education, the country introduced 11-year universal compulsory education in 1972 and elongated it by a year in 2014.

With the systematic increase of the state investment in the educational sector, the production of school things, bags and school uniforms is scaling up.

This year too, new school uniforms, school things, footwear and bags were supplied to students of primary and secondary schools and universities across the country in the lead-up to the new school year.

The rights to education and medical service constitute major components of children’s human rights, which have a direct bearing on the growth and development of children.

The state bears all the expense for preventing and treating diseases of children, that is, for medical examination, medical experiments and tests, medicines, inpatient service, recuperation, travel to and from sanatoriums, health checkups, medical consultation and vaccination and prostheses.

As for the children who cannot receive parental care, the law stipulates that the state shall raise them at baby homes and orphanages and schools for orphans free of charge. Such institutes have been built in good places of the country.

Today, children in the DPRK are growing happily free from any worries under the care of the state.

Yang Ryon Hui

2023-06-10