calendar>>December 3. 2020 Juche 109
Protection of Disabled Persons in DPRK
Pyongyang, December 3 (KCNA) -- In the DPRK, the disabled persons are leading a happy life with their social rights and interests legally assured.

The social policies for the disabled have been enforced after the liberation of Korea (August 15, 1945) from Japan's colonial rule.

President Kim Il Sung started the work for protection of the disabled in the country by promulgating the "Labour Law for the Factory and Office Workers in North Korea" in June 24 Juche 35 (1946). And in the period of the hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War, he set it as a policy of the DPRK government to treat preferentially the disabled soldiers and take care of them.

Thus, a prosthesis factory was built in 1951 to commence the production of prosthetic appliances for disabled persons, and this work has been conducted at the state expense until now.

Deaf and blind schools have been built in different parts of the country since 1959.

The Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled, whose mission is to take care of the disable persons' health, was organized in 1998. Now, the federation has such affiliated organizations as the Deaf Association of Korea, the Blind Association of Korea, the Korea Sports Association of the Disabled and the Korean Art Association of the Disabled.

"DPRK Law on the Protection of the Disabled"?stipulating and ensuring the disabled persons' socio-political rights and freedom and interests was adopted in 2003 and supplemented in 2013.

The DPRK also has a treatment system for disabled persons' rehabilitation.

The disabled persons in the country lead a working life and conduct sports and art activities according to their wishes and hobbies equally with ordinary people.

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