North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has urged the women of his country to have more children, state-run news agency KCNA reported on Monday.
"Stopping the decline in birth rates and providing good child care and education are all our family affairs that we should solve together with our mothers," Kim said during an address to the attendees of the National Mothers Meeting.
In his speech, Kim Jong Un expressed gratitude to moms in North Korea for boosting national morale.
"I too always think about mothers when I have a hard time dealing with the party and the state's work," Kim said while referencing the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
North Korea's birth rates have been on the decline over the past decade. The United Nations Population Fund says that North Korea's fertility rate stands at 1.8 births per woman as of 2023, which is below the 2.1 replacement rate benchmark in developed countries.
North Korea is heavily reliant on physical labor to keep its economy afloat amid isolated trade ties with the West due to sanctions.
The country is believed to have seen a decrease in fertility in the 1990s due to famine, with the South Korean Hyundai Research Institute in August saying the low birth rates could ultimately hamper the North's manufacturing sector. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in August that many North Koreans "appear to be facing extreme hunger."
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
