December 3 is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Thanks to the DPRK government’s policy on protecting the disabled, each and every person with disabilities in our country, though with physical defect, enjoy joyous and happy life without any gloom.

After the liberation, President Kim Il Sung initiated the protection of the persons with disabilities in our country by stipulating in the “Labor Law on North Korean Workers and Civil Servants” the articles on the provision of living conditions for the people who cannot work anymore as they became disabled or got illnesses during their service.

Democratic Blind Union of Korea was formed as early as February 28, 1948 and began its activities. After the foundation of the DPRK in September 1948, various legal and institutional measures were taken to protect and preferentially treat the persons with disabilities nationwide.

The DPRK Law on the Protection of the Disabled was adopted on June 18, 2003. 10 years later, it was further revised and supplemented in detail in November 2013. In particular, the 9 th Session of the 14 th Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK held in September 2023 adopted the Law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities.

This provided a firm legal guarantee for ensuring the rights of the people with disabilities in the fields of socio-political, economic and cultural life, thus enabling them to lead a genuine life as the masters of the state and society.

Also, under the well-established rehabilitation and treatment system for disabled people, they receive treatment to regain their physical functions at recuperation centers. Disabled children are enjoying the benefits of socialist education system at the special schools for the deaf and blind built in various parts of the country, and the people with all sorts of disabilities can learn practical skills according to their interests and aspirations at universities and vocational schools.

The disabled also take an active part in sports and the arts, giving a cheerful and energetic appearance.

The table tennis tournament for disabled persons and amateurs and art performances by the disabled being held grandly each year clearly substantiates the advantages of the policies taken by the DPRK government for disabled people.

Disabled people in the DPRK also carry out international sports and cultural exchange activities.

After the DPRK established a non-standing National Paralympic Committee in October 2011, a DPRK disabled athlete participated in the 14 th Paralympic Games in 2012 for the first time. Since then, participants who advanced into the international games have achieved good results every year.

The performances staged by the Pyongyang Exchange Group of Disabled Persons in the UK and France in 2015 and 2017 respectively showed to the whole world how disabled people in the DPRK enjoy a worthwhile life under its socialist system.

The audience who had been captivated by their performances spared no praise in saying that it is unbelievable that they sung, played and danced just like real professional artistes and that they saw, through the happy faces of the disabled performers, the DPRK’s reality where its superior policy for protecting disabled people is guaranteed.

The DPRK government bestows greater care to those who are sick and wounded and does everything it can to make them live as proud masters of the country.

Under this warm care, disabled people in the DPRK are enjoying a worthwhile life, singing the song “We are the Happiest in the World”.