Watch | Kim Jong Un cries as he tells North Korean women to have more babies

06 Dec 2023, 02:33 by Livemint · Mint Business News - Official Channel · Join

Kim Jong Un has been filmed crying while appealing to North Korea’s women to have more children. The birthrate in North Korea is declining therefore Kim has asked women to have more babies in a bid to 'strengthen national power'.

In a video, the supreme leader dabbed his eyes with a white handkerchief while making the appeal during an event for mothers in Pyongyang.

According to media reports, he said, "Stopping the decline in birthrates and providing good child care and education are all our family affairs that we should solve together with our mothers".

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As per United Nations data, the average number of children being born in North Korea by a mother stood at 1.8 as of 2023 amid an extended fall in birth in recent decades.

The figure remains higher than North Korea's neighbours which are also witnessing a downward trend.

South Korea’s fertility rate, is the lowest in the developed world. It is largely because of the competitive school market, weak child care, male-centered corporate culture, etc.

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In the 1970s-80s, North Korea implemented birth control programs to slow postwar population growth.

However, the population began declining in the region after a famine in the mid-1990s that was estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.

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In a bid to tackle the low birth rates, North Korea introduced a set of benefits for families with three or more children, including preferential free housing arrangements, state subsidies, free food, medicine, and household goods, and educational perks for children this year, Metro reported.

Stabilizing our population calls for the empowerment of women

Citing the Hyundai Institute report, the UK daily said that North Korea was expected to experience a population shrink from 2034 and forecast its population would decrease to 23.7 million by 2070.

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Watch | Kim Jong Un cries as he tells North Korean women to have more babies

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