In an emotional address during the Fifth National Conference of Mothers in Pyongyang, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was seen wiping away tears as he pleaded with thousands of women to give birth to more children due to the country’s declining birth rates.
The emotional appeal comes amid concerns about North Korea’s fertility rate, which was estimated at 1.8 by the United Nations Population Fund in 2023, reflecting a continued decline. Despite this decrease, North Korea still maintains a higher fertility rate than its southern counterpart. In 2022, South Korea recorded a substantial drop in its fertility rate from 1.20 in 2014 to a mere 0.78.
Addressing the audience as “Dear Mothers,” Kim Jong Un outlined a series of social tasks that mothers should actively engage in. These tasks include shaping the next generation to carry forward the revolution, eliminating non-socialist practices, fostering family harmony, promoting cultural and moral values, and instilling communist virtues in society. According to him, these tasks are common family affairs that require collaboration with mothers.
In the 1970s and 80s, North Korea introduced birth control programs to curb postwar population growth. However, due to a devastating famine, a significant downturn in the country’s fertility rate occurred in the mid-1990s. The famine was estimated to have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, and contributed to a substantial decline in North Korea’s fertility rate, as reported by the Seoul-based Hyundai Research Institute in August.
