Injuries Killing More North Koreans as Kim Jong Un Pushes for Growth
18 June 2019 - 2:40PM
Dow Jones News
By Timothy W. Martin
SEOUL--As North Korea pushes for economic self-reliance,
injuries are killing more people every year, according to a new
report.
About 15,600 North Koreans a year are dying from injuries, and
accidents are overtaxing the regime's outdated health-care system,
which is already under pressure from economic sanctions. The
report--by Harvard Medical School and the KF-VUB Korea Chair, which
is part of a Brussels-based research institute--says ambulances
lack fuel to transport passengers. New parts can't be ordered for
broken medical equipment.
And surgeons are reusing syringes until they break, said Kee B.
Park, of Harvard Medical School, a co-author of the report.
The report used World Health Organization data, satellite
imaging as well as interviews with medical staff, aid workers and
defectors to model how big the problem will become and the level of
need in the health-care system.
It found three "alarming patterns of injury" in North Korea:
Young people are predominantly affected, more people are being
killed every year, and road traffic and occupational accidents are
the most prevalent causes.
The report says the situation is expected to worsen with
increased road traffic and new construction projects as North Korea
pursues economic development.
The lost work productivity from killed or disabled young
laborers has reduced North Korea's gross domestic product by an
estimated $1.5 billion, according to the report. It said the
North's gross domestic product was about $17 billion at the end of
2017.
Pyongyang doesn't publish official injury statistics. But a
recent WHO study said 85% of the isolated regime's reported
injuries resulted from occupational accidents and road-traffic
incidents.
The dire health-care situation shows how North Korea is
struggling to offer basic services as leader Kim Jong Un pushes
economic self-reliance. To that end, Mr. Kim is aggressively
boosting infrastructure projects and encouraging tourism by
building new facilities.
Updating the country's hospitals and health care infrastructure
would cost about $500 million and could be done without violating
the current sanctions, said Dr. Park, who has conducted several
operations in Pyongyang facilities this year.
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have hit an
impasse after February's Vietnam summit. But offering the North
humanitarian aid could be a way to help jump-start negotiations
again, security experts say.
North Korea, as part of its five-year planning, had pledged to
upgrade its basic trauma care facilities through 2020. But it is
unclear how sanctions have affected the strategy.
"North Korean people are dying or becoming disabled because of
simple accidents," said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, of the KF-VUB Korea
Chair, and one of the report's co-authors.
Write to Timothy W. Martin at timothy.martin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 18, 2019 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)
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