Northeast Asian countries are taking a series of measures to tackle their pressing social problems in a bid to improve the living standards of people under the poverty line.

To this end, the countries are trying to boost economic development and create more job opportunities, said sources with the International Workshop on Networking and Capacity Building for Social Development in Northeast Asia, which just concluded in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China.

These countries are also trying to establish a social security network, mobilize public assistance, put aside part of their financial budget and encourage the development of private businesses for this purpose, the sources said.

Northeast Asia geographically covers the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Mongolia, northeast China, Russia's far east, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan.

Lai Shian Lung, a United Nations official in charge of economic and social affairs, said that although countries in this region have different political and economic systems and cultural backgrounds and stay at different levels of economic development, they are faced with the same tasks like poverty relief and increasing employment.

They have taken the road that fit their own situation, said Lai, chief of the Socio-economic Policy and Development Management Branch of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The provinces in northeast China have provided professional training to several million workers laid off from state-owned enterprises so that they can find new jobs. The provision of old age insurance, unemployment insurance and the subsistence relief system have formed a social security network for poverty-stricken urban residents in these provinces.

The vigorous, rapid development of private enterprises there, which is encouraged by the Chinese government, has created more and more job opportunities.

In the ROK, the Asian financial crisis has directly resulted in a large number of unemployed and poor people, making its original social security system outdated.

The ROK government, while expanding the coverage of the social security system, has formulated an act to guarantee that poverty-stricken people, regardless of their capability and age, will have enough food and clothing and have access to education and medical care.

Caught in the transition from the planned economy to a market economy, Mongolia also witnesses a growing unemployed and poor population. The government has drawn out a national poverty-alleviation program and is working to create job opportunities and provide basic education and medical services to the people, with the help of foreign funds and technical assistance.

In the northern area of Russia's far east, economic and social transition, coupled with unemployment, evil natural conditions and poor infrastructures, has led to a continuous drop in the people's living standard and forced over one million residents to move out.

The Russian government, in an effort to tackle the problem, has established a government fund to help them buy affordable residences for those moving southward, providing them with jobs, education, medical care and old-age pension. Meanwhile, those who remain there are given special allowances.

Affected by natural disasters and other factors, the DPRK is faced with a series of difficulties in recent years, most prominently, a severe shortage of food supply.

The DPRK government has increased investment in agricultural production and is taking steps to stimulate economic growth in order to create more job opportunities.

(People’s Daily 06/18/2001)