By Timothy W. Martin 

SEOUL--As North Korea pushes for economic self-reliance, injuries are killing more people every year, according to a new report.

About 15,600 North Koreans a year are dying from injuries, and accidents are overtaxing the regime's outdated health-care system, which is already under pressure from economic sanctions. The report--by Harvard Medical School and the KF-VUB Korea Chair, which is part of a Brussels-based research institute--says ambulances lack fuel to transport passengers. New parts can't be ordered for broken medical equipment.

And surgeons are reusing syringes until they break, said Kee B. Park, of Harvard Medical School, a co-author of the report.

The report used World Health Organization data, satellite imaging as well as interviews with medical staff, aid workers and defectors to model how big the problem will become and the level of need in the health-care system.

It found three "alarming patterns of injury" in North Korea: Young people are predominantly affected, more people are being killed every year, and road traffic and occupational accidents are the most prevalent causes.

The report says the situation is expected to worsen with increased road traffic and new construction projects as North Korea pursues economic development.

The lost work productivity from killed or disabled young laborers has reduced North Korea's gross domestic product by an estimated $1.5 billion, according to the report. It said the North's gross domestic product was about $17 billion at the end of 2017.

Pyongyang doesn't publish official injury statistics. But a recent WHO study said 85% of the isolated regime's reported injuries resulted from occupational accidents and road-traffic incidents.

The dire health-care situation shows how North Korea is struggling to offer basic services as leader Kim Jong Un pushes economic self-reliance. To that end, Mr. Kim is aggressively boosting infrastructure projects and encouraging tourism by building new facilities.

Updating the country's hospitals and health care infrastructure would cost about $500 million and could be done without violating the current sanctions, said Dr. Park, who has conducted several operations in Pyongyang facilities this year.

Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have hit an impasse after February's Vietnam summit. But offering the North humanitarian aid could be a way to help jump-start negotiations again, security experts say.

North Korea, as part of its five-year planning, had pledged to upgrade its basic trauma care facilities through 2020. But it is unclear how sanctions have affected the strategy.

"North Korean people are dying or becoming disabled because of simple accidents," said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, of the KF-VUB Korea Chair, and one of the report's co-authors.

Write to Timothy W. Martin at timothy.martin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 18, 2019 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)

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