Kim Jong-un makes tearful appeal for women to have more babies to arrest declining birth rates

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for efforts to tackle the country's falling birth rates, describing the challenge as "everyone's housekeeping duty" .

At an event held for mothers in Pyongyang, Kim said the nation should "work with the mothers" to prevent the birth rate from declining and focus on providing good childcare services.

Video from the state media showed a hall packed with women dressed in traditional dresses cheering enthusiastically for Kim at the meeting.

The United Nations Population Fund estimated that 1.8 children per woman are being born in North Korea as of 2023, higher than some of its neighbours grappling with a similar downward trend.

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