북한 간호 ; 간호원 ; 북한 보건의료 ; 김정은 시기 ; 정성 간호 ; Nursing in North Korea ; Nurse ; Public Health of North Korea ; Kim Jong-un Era ; Qualitative Nursing
Abstract
Based on the continuous publications of the North Korean authorities, this study examines the discourse on nursing during Kim Jong-un’s era. To compare with the previous era, this study analyzed articles containing the word ‘nursing’ from daily newspapers and magazines starting from the 1950s. By understanding the content of articles across different periods and using techniques such as word frequency and latent Dirichlet allocation for topic modeling, the main themes have been identified. As a supplementary analysis, the differences in the themes of healthcare-related articles and nursing-related articles have been examined in the recent three years’ articles from Rodong Sinmun. The discourse in Kim Jong-un’s era emphasizes the nurses who silently work in unseen places for decades, as well as the scientific and standardization aspects of nursing education. The focus on sacrifice and loyalty to the North Korean regime which was the main theme of the Kim Jong-il era appeared less. The authority frequently highlights the professional activities of nurses and the quality of nursing that meets international standards. This study sheds light on the evolving perspective of the North Korean authorities for nursing quality development that meets international standards.