Persons with Disabilities Are Also Masters of Society
Persons with Disabilities Are Also Masters of Society
December 3 is the
international day of persons with disabilities.
In October 1992 the 47th
Session of the UN General Assembly designated this day with the purpose of raising
the social awareness of and concern for the problem of persons with disabilities,
defending their rights of and encouraging them to participate in social life
including politics, the economy and culture.
On this occasion we will see
the situation of the person with disabilities in the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea.
The DPRK respects the personality
of persons with disabilities and ensures their socio-political rights and interests
by law.
The Labour Law for Factory
and Office Workers in North Korea, promulgated in June 1946 after the liberation
of the country from the military occupation by Japan, advanced measures for providing
living conditions for persons disabled while working and by vocational disease;
this was the beginning of protection of persons with disabilities in this
country.
Later, the Law of the DPRK on
the Protection of Persons with Disabilities was promulgated.
This law, which regulates the
standard of the law on the protection of persons with disabilities, their
rehabilitation, education and cultural life, labour and so on, contains articles
on protecting their rights and interests in all sectors of social life and
providing them with more stable and convenient living environment and conditions.
The Cabinet of the DPRK issued
as its decision the Regulations for the Implementation of the Law on the
Protection of Persons with Disabilities.
Modern prosthetic appliances factories have been built in
several parts of the country, and a well-regulated national rehabilitation
system for persons with disabilities is in place.
The Korean Association for Supporting
Persons with Disabilities, organized in 1999, was reorganized in 2005 as the Central
Committee of the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled for the
provision of better living conditions and environment for persons with
disabilities.
The Central Committee of the
KFPD carries on the work of improving the contents of vocational education in
special schools for persons with disabilities and, at the same time, leads the vocational
schools for the disabled to teach diversified knowledge of various sectors to
the graduates of those special schools so that they could lead a diversified
working life after graduation. In order to bring the hopes for art of persons
with disabilities into full bloom, special schools including Taedong School for
the Bind and Songchon School for the Deaf and Dumb are putting their artistic
activities on a regular footing; on the other hand, the Korean Art Association
of the Disabled is making the arts specialized by persons with disabilities. The
Korean Sports Association of the Disabled is increasing the number of sport
events for persons with disabilities, including table tennis, swimming,
shooting and archery and is paying great efforts to raising promising
sportspeople among them, with the result that great successes have been
achieved in international sports games of the disabled.
The audience who saw the
international tour performance of Pyongyang exchange group said that it was
unbelievable they performed musical instruments and dancing as good as
professional artistes, it reflects the realities of Korea where a protection
policy for persons with disabilities is fully ensured.
Persons with disabilities in the
DPRK are proud of the fact that they are also masters of society free from all
cares in social life. They believe that they can, and should, also devote themselves
to the development of society, for society expects them to do so and provides
them with every necessary condition.
