At an event dedicated to North Korean mothers, Kim Jong Un stressed the “central role” these women play in “carrying the heavy burden of giving continuity to the true values ​​and nature” of the country, state agency KCNA said.

It is not an unusual act for North Korea’s leader, who has already publicly wept in several years of his mandate as a way of asking forgiveness from his compatriots for the complicated economic situation.

Mothers are “the powerful driving force that has sustained an entire people’s struggle to achieve respect and prosperity,” the North Korean dictator said at the U.S. National Mothers’ Conference, held a day earlier in Pyongyang.

Kim Jong Un called for measures to prevent the decline in the birth rate and support mothers in the country, which is believed to be suffering a food crisis due to the pandemic.

Kim also referred to the “problem of preventing a decline in the birth rate” and “providing proper care and education to children,” issues that “must be solved by working together with mothers.”

Although there are no official birth rates in North Korea, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that the country’s most recent fertility rate is 1.8 children per woman.

This organization estimates that the figure in North Korea has been steadily declining in recent decades, although in this case the indicator is above neighboring countries such as South Korea or Japan, which are affected by the accelerated aging of the population.

North Korea has been hit by a food shortage due to the foreclosure of the country’s borders coronavirus pandemic and a series of poor harvests and adverse weather conditions, according to observers in the country.

However, it is believed that the food situation would have improved with the gradual reopening of trade with China in recent months. (JO)