N Korea’s Kim condemns own country’s health sector


Team Udayavani, Aug 21, 2018, 12:27 PM IST

Seoul: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has denounced his own country’s health services, state media reported today, criticising officials for being “very idle and irresponsible”.

Impoverished and isolated North Korea, which is subject to multiple sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its pursuit of nuclear weapons, suffers from chronic food shortages and inadequate health services according to international aid agencies.

Hospitals lack medicines, equipment, and trained staff. While Pyongyang regularly proclaims its desire to provide its people with a better life, Kim roundly condemned its health system on a visit to a medical devices factory.

Some sectors “have made remarkable leaps forward in recent years” Kim said according to the official Korean Central News Agency, “but the public health sector has never done so and become more and more passive”. “There is no unit keeping its environment well in the public health sector, to say nothing of equipment modernisation,” he added at the Myohyangsan Medical Appliances Factory.

Such “field guidance” visits by the leader are the mainstay of the North’s state media output, and a key part of the authorities’ domestic messaging, sometimes lauding the quality of projects and sometimes criticising officials. The ruling Workers’ Party had stressed the need to improve health services, but “officials are very idle and irresponsible in doing so”, Kim said according to KCNA.

In the Korean-language version, he berated them for “hibernating for a long time”, adding: “Animals only hibernate once a year but the health sector has been holed up and hibernating for years and shouting empty slogans.” Since his summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June, Kim has stressed a focus on economic development, visiting industrial sites and factories across the nation.

In this year’s “needs and priorities” assessment of North Korea, the UN Development Programme described its healthcare services as “inadequate”, with a “lack of essential medical equipment, pharmaceutical remedies, appropriate referral systems, therapeutic equipment and assistive devices, as well as limited professional capacity”.

“Furthermore, health infrastructure is poor with many [facilities] having inconsistent water, electricity and heating,” it added. North Korea has called for an end to sanctions against it, while the US has urged the international community to maintain a tough approach until its complete denuclearisation.

Following several ballistic missile launches and by far the North’s most powerful nuclear test last year, Kim declared the development of its atomic capabilities complete and said economic development was the new priority.

Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.

Top News

Derogatory comments row: K’taka Minister Hebbalkar dares BJP’s Ravi to take oath before god

Aaditya requests Fadnavis to make cities free of political banners, assures support

One killed, another injured in scooter-truck collision in Arantodu

Refusing medical aid to sexual violence, acid attack survivors offence: Delhi HC

Man’s miraculous escape: Lies on track as train speeds over him in Kerala

Vajpayee@100: Poet-politician whose words had fire and magic

Mangaluru: Karavali Utsava helicopter rides venue shifted

Related Articles More

‘We should try again’: Punjab Assembly Speaker on Vajpayee’s failed India-Pak peace initiative

Delhi Police crackdown on illegal immigration of Bangladeshi citizens, 11 arrested

US expresses concern over sentencing of 25 civilians by Pakistan military court

‘Send Sheikh Hasina back to country’: Bangladesh writes to India

India & Kuwait elevate ties to strategic level; ink defence pact after PM Modi meets top Kuwaiti leaders

MUST WATCH

Tulunadu Daivaradane

Feeding Birds with Creative Paddy Art!

Areca Nut

HOTEL SRI DURGA BHAVANA

Harish Poonja


Latest Additions

Derogatory comments row: K’taka Minister Hebbalkar dares BJP’s Ravi to take oath before god

Aaditya requests Fadnavis to make cities free of political banners, assures support

Kohli needs to resist flashing outside the off-stump: Hayden

KSRTC inducts 20 Ambaari Utsav sleeper buses

IRCTC has stopped paying compensation to passengers for delay in private trains: RTI

Thanks for visiting Udayavani

You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.