North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to wipe away tears as he said it is a duty of women to halt a fall in the country’s birthrate.

Women must help to strengthen national power, state media said on Monday, as Kim’s government steps up the call for the people to have more children.

While getting a detailed read on North Korea’s population trends is extremely difficult because of the limited statistics it discloses, South Korea’s government assesses that the North’s fertility rate has declined steadily for the past ten years.

It is a concerning development for a country that depends on mobilised labour to help keep its broken, heavily sanctioned economy afloat.

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