SEOUL, March 04 (Yonhap) – North Korea passed social insurance and disinfection laws at a meeting of the Supreme People’s Congress (PSA), the Central News Agency said Thursday. North Korea (KCNA), in the midst of a nationwide campaign to fight the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
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The North also approved a “master plan” for land development in the eastern coastal area, possibly including the Mount Kumgang resort area that the country jointly managed with South Korea.
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The laws were passed at an APS meeting on Wednesday, KCNA said.
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The law on social insurance and security calls for the protection of human health and “specifies in detail the accumulation and expenditure of social insurance money as well as the organization, operation and duties of the social insurance body ”.
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The law appears to be intended to adopt a social security program to cover medical costs and secure people’s basic needs in the form of public insurance amid economic hardship caused by protracted anti-virus efforts and global sanctions.
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The Disinfection Law stipulates that goods imported at “border crossing points” are strictly disinfected and that penalties are imposed for violations. A possible sign that preparations for resuming commercial activities may be underway.
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The “master plan” for land development in the eastern coastal zone is expected to include the resort of Mount Kumgang, although the KCNA did not provide further details.
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Launched in 1998, the Mount Kumgang tourism program was considered a major inter-Korean cooperation project until it was suspended in 2008 after a tourist was shot dead by a North Korean guard.
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In December of last year, North Korean Prime Minister Kim Tok-hun visited the Mount Kumgang area and called for the construction of a modern and comprehensive international tourism zone “our way” in an apparent rejection of Seoul’s calls for consultations on resuming the long-suspended tourism program.
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