朝鲜的三大免費政策

朝鲜的三大免費政策
Three Major Policies of the DPRK

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea captures the attention of the world for its three major policies–free education, free medical service and providing houses free of charge. The reason is that these policies are not only perfect but universal.
These policies are not administered only for specific members or units of society but for everyone without discrimination.
Thanks to the enforcement of the universal compulsory education, all pupils and students realize their wishes, enjoying equal rights to learn; university and college students even receive scholarships paid by the state.
Under the universal free medical system, all medical services such as checkup, test, treatment, operation, hospitalization and medicines are provided free of charge; women give birth to their babies under the best medical conditions in hospitals like the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital.
The houses built at state expense are provided not only to blue- and white-collar workers but to farmers free of charge.
It is quite surprising that the state enforces these policies when it is placed under the sanctions and blockade imposed by the US and its vassal forces.
The country has enforced these policies whatever the situation and circumstance. The universal free medical service can be taken as an example. It was introduced in November 1952, when the Korean war (1950-1953) was at its height; in other words, the system that demands huge funds was introduced at the time when the state had to direct all its human and material resources to achieving victory in the war.
Enforcement of these policies was not suspended even in the closing years of the last century, when the country was conducting the Arduous March owing to the moves of the allied imperialist forces to blockade and isolate it; the children across the country learned to their heart’s content, all the people lived without feeling any worry about medical treatment, and the modern houses built one after another in different parts of the country were provided to the people free of charge.
These policies enforced without letup in the days, when many people of the world were apprehensive about its destiny, struck the world with wonder, and demonstrated that its socialism will be victorious forever.
These policies improve the people’s standard of material and cultural living in a systematic way.
There is no limit in the country in improving the people’s livelihoods.
The course of progress of socialist construction in the country was immediately the course of the development of these policies on the principle of constantly improving the people’s material and cultural living standards.
The country enforced universal primary compulsory education in 1956, and introduced universal and free secondary compulsory education in 1958. In 1959 universal compulsory education system was established. In 1972, it enforced universal 11-year compulsory education for the first time in the world, and in 2012 universal 12-year compulsory education.
As for the universal free medical service, it has developed the system in a systematic way–introducing the district doctor system in the 1960s, turning village clinics into hospitals in the 1970s and raising the specialized levels of medical service in the 1980s and 1990s. In recent years many modern specialized hospitals have been built, like the Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, Ryugyong Dental Hospital, Okryu Children’s Hospital and Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital. It is not fortuitous that WHO praised the public health system of the country as an advanced one in its report published in January 2011.
As for houses, in Pyongyang, the capital of the country, hundreds of thousands of flats had already been built on such streets as Ragwon, Chollima, Changgwang, Kwangbok and Thongil. Recently, high-rise and superhigh-rise apartment houses have been built on Changjon, Mirae Scientists, and Ryomyong streets, and provided to teachers, scientists and other working people.

Source: Consulate General of Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Hong Kong