Strongman Kim Jong Un of North Korea begged his isolated country’s women to procreate more in order to counteract the country’s declining birth rates.
As the audience sobbed in unison, Kim Jong Un, flanked by other leaders in uniform, stated that increasing the population would strengthen the nation.
“We should solve family matters together with our mothers, including stopping the decline in birth rates and providing good child care and education,” Kim Jong Un stated during his speech.
The average number of children that a North Korean woman was expected to have in 2022 was 1.79, down from 1.88 in 2014, according to the South Korean government statistics agency.
As he wiped at his eyes with a white handkerchief, Kim said that North Korean women needed to increase their birth rate, even though that figure is significantly higher than in rival South Korea, where the fertility rate dropped to 0.78 in 2022.
At other moments during the speech, state media images showed the rapt audience cheering enthusiastically for Kim.
North Korean media outlets claim that the nation provides extra benefits to families with three or more children.
Free housing, food, medicine, household goods, and educational incentives are a few of these.
Many times, Kim can be seen in public with his young daughter Ju Ae, as observers have noticed. This could be a PR attempt to support more families.
The gathering on Sunday, known as the National Mothers meeting, was the first to be held in over ten years.
Kim advised North Korean women to have more children and to raise them in a way that would improve the prospects for the Communist country in the future.
North Korea may face consequences from declining population numbers on several fronts, including its military.
Despite having the 56th largest population overall, the country has the fourth-largest standing army in the world, with about 1.3 million soldiers.
Any sharp fall in population could weaken those ranks and even jeopardize the socialist government, which is widely isolated and has strong official backing.
Kim Jong Un tearfully begs North Korean women to have more kids as birth rate declines#UTVNews pic.twitter.com/fhQf8r68lK
— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) December 6, 2023
