December 10 is World Human Rights Day.

On this occasion, the Korean people are filled with great pride and self-confidence in leading a life under the socialist system which reflects most correctly their demands for human rights and fully translates them into reality.

The DPRK, which gives top and absolute priority to the people’s interests and regards it as the mode of its existence to make selfless, devoted efforts for the good of the people, formulates and implements all its lines and policies on the principle of fully ensuring their right to independence. It has established such advantageous socialist human rights system as the law codifying human rights as the people’s right to independence, the well-organized State machinery for thoroughly realizing their right to independence and the advanced educational and publicity structure for raising their awareness of human rights.

The Korean people substantially exercise all the rights as social beings, including political freedom and rights and the rights to work, rest, learn and promote their health.

The election of deputies to the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK was held on March 10, Juche 108 (2019). 99.99 percent of all the electors registered on the voter rolls across the country attended the election and 100 percent of them cast their ballots for the candidates for the deputies. Among 687 persons elected to the SPA are workers, cooperative farmers and service personnel that account for 16.2%, 9.6% and 17.2% respectively. Ninety-two percent of them are holders of academic degrees and titles, including professors and doctors, and other technical and expert qualifications. This clearly shows that workers, teachers, researchers and other people are fully exercising their rights to freely take part in the State administration.

The country enforces the system of free education, including the universal 12-year compulsory education involving one-year pre-school education. The right to education in the DPRK is ensured on the most advanced level worldwide. All the people enjoy the benefits of free medical care. The State builds dwelling houses and distributes them free to the people. Workers, teachers, researchers and other working people lead a happy life in modern houses, including those in Ryomyong Street and Mirae Scientists Street. Such fact can be found only in the DPRK.

The third-stage renovation of Samjiyon County and other construction projects, including the Wonsan-Kalma Tourist Resort, are now in full swing in the country. All of them are geared to providing its people with better material and cultured life.

Genuine human rights can never be realized of their own accord. Many people across the world fail to exercise elementary human rights but fall victim to violations and oppression of human rights. Worse still, human rights are being misused by reactionary forces for realizing their ulterior purpose to intervene in the internal affairs of sovereign states and invade them, and infringe human rights of peoples in other countries.

Human rights are the right to independence people should exercise in the political, economic, ideological, cultural and all other sectors of social life. Genuine human rights can be realized and guaranteed by the political and social system of an independent state.

The DPRK will steadily expand the scope of its people-oriented policies to ensure human rights in the future, too.

The Korean people will make a greater stride in exercising their genuine human rights along with the dynamic drive to promote the building of a powerful socialist country.Dr. and Associate Prof. Sok Chol Won, director of Human Rights Institute under Academy of Social Sciences