, Eun Mee Kim The Republic of Korea’s potential role in the peacebuilding process on the Korean Peninsula is explored, with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s earnest efforts to denuclearize and become a normal country. The paper focuses on the United Nations (UN) agencies in the peacebuilding process, considering the UN’s engagement in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during the sanction years with humanitarian assistance, the UN’s legitimacy as an impartial international organization for assisting developing countries in forging peace and prosperity, and recently-adopted resolutions on sustaining peace and the Sustainable Development Goals. Policy recommendations are for the Republic of Korea to actively cooperate with the UN’s development and humanitarian agencies, conduct a thorough preparatory review and conduct research, and work towards expanding its engagement and role within key UN agencies.
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, Jongmin Oh, Eun Mee Kim, Ji Hyen Lee, Minah Kang, Miju Kim, Seok Hyang Kim, Jae Jin Han, Hae Soon Kim, Oran Kwon, Hunjoo Ha, Harris Hyun-soo Kim, Hye Won Chung, Eunshil Kim, Young Ju Kim, Yuri Kim, Younhee Kang, Eunhee Ha To conduct a comparative study of children’s health in South Korea versus North Korea focusing on air pollution.
We used annual mortality rate, prevalence, and environmental indicators data from the World Bank and World Health Organizations (WHO). Trend analysis of the two Koreas was conducted to evaluate changes in health status over time. Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to find out the correlation between environmental indicators and children’s health status.
We found a distinct gap in children’s health status between the two Koreas. While North Korea reported a higher death rate of children than South Korea, both showed a decreasing trend with the gap narrowing from 2000 to 2017. The prevalence of overweight and obesity increased and that of thinness decreased in both Koreas. Except PM2.5 exposure, South Korea reported higher figures in most indicators of air pollutant emissions (South Korea, mean (SD)=28.3 (2.0); North Korea, mean (SD)=36.5 (2.8), P-value=0.002).
This study empirically discovered the gaps and patterns of children’s health between South Korea and North Korea. North Korean children experienced more severe health outcomes than children in South Korea. These findings imply that epigenetic modification caused by environmental stressors affect children’s health in the two Koreas despite similar genetic characteristics. Considering the gaps in children’s health between the two Koreas, more attention and resources need to be directed towards North Korea because the necessary commodities and services to improve children’s health are lacking in North Korea.
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