Some North Korean hospitals are posting prices for treatment and medicine in a break from past practice that suggests authorities are abandoning the goal of providing free health care, sources in the country have told Radio Free Asia. The communist country’s Public Health Act stipulates that the state provides complete and comprehensive free care. While the reality has long been different, with patients paying for medicines and other expenses out of pocket, now prices are being openly displayed, according to two sources in two different provinces. “Recently, hospitals in the…
Day: April 8, 2025
China’s shoemakers seem more sanguine than its politicians
Some 1,200 miles south of where government officials in Beijing have been breathing retaliatory fire at American tariffs lies the coastal province of Fujian. This is where the rubber of a million running shoes will hit the road as the tariffs take effect. The Economist
Insurgent groups seize two major towns in Myanmar’s northwest: sources
Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. A rebel army and allied forces near Myanmar’s northwestern border with India have seized towns that were previously under the junta control, sources told Radio Free Asia. The Chin Brotherhood captured Chin state’s second largest town of Falam, located near the border of Mizoram state in India, according to residents. The rebel group, which is comprised of six allied Chin insurgent armies, began attacks on Falam on Nov. 5, 2024 and seized the junta’s remaining Battalion 268 on Monday. “We’re continuing clearance…
Japan to extend trade sanctions against North Korea for 2 years
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Japan said it will extend its ban on trade with North Korea for two more years as part of sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program and the unresolved abductions of Japanese nationals. Under the current sanctions, Japan bans port entry by North Korea-registered vessels and ships that have made port in the country, as well as trade. The sanctions were due to expire on Sunday. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, cited Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile development programs and the unresolved issue of its decades-old abduction…