Kim Jong Un cries as he urges North Korea’s women to have more babies

PYONGYANG: North Korea’s President Kim Jong Un burst into tears in front of thousands of country’s women as he begged them to have more babies and stop the decline in birth rate.

The North Korea president was seen dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief in a rare moment of emotion as he addressed the National Mothers’ Meeting in Pyongyang.

In a video that went viral on social media, Kim Jong Un appeared to be trying to hold back the tears throughout his speech as he called on women to help strengthen the nation’s power.

Kim Jong Un CRIES while telling North Korean women to have more babies.

The dictator shed tears while speaking at the National Mothers Meeting as he urged women to boost the countries birth rate. pic.twitter.com/J354CyVnln

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) December 5, 2023

Addressing the audience as “Dear Mothers” he told them: “Preventing a decline in birth rates and good childcare are all of our housekeeping duties we need to handle while working with mothers.”

He added his country was being confronted with a host of “social tasks that our mothers should join to tackle.”

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that as of 2023 the fertility rate, or the average number of children being born to a woman in North Korea, stood at 1.8, amid an extended fall in the rate during recent decades.

The fertility rate remains higher than in some of North Korea’s neighbours, which have been grappling with a similar downward trend.

South Korea saw its fertility rate drop to a record low of 0.78 last year, while Japan saw its figure drop to 1.26.

The dwindling birth rates in South Korea have caused a shortage of pediatricians, while one city is hosting matchmaking events to boost birth rates.

North Korea, which has a population of about 25 million people, has in recent decades also had to contend with serious food shortages, including deadly famine in the 1990s, often a result of natural disasters such as floods damaging harvests.