Giving birth to children is patriotism, North Korea’s Kim tells mothers

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – North Korea’s leader has praised mothers for having children, linking giving birth with “patriotism” and “building a powerful socialist country,” local media reported on Tuesday.

Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un called on the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and the women’s union to “enlighten and sincerely help mothers to volunteer to be aware of family and social duties and give birth to children to raise them with devotion.”

Kim was addressing the 5th National Conference of Mothers – On Duty of Mothers for Their Families and Society – on Sunday and Monday, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Mothers make “painstaking efforts” while bringing up their families, Kim said, adding: “When all mothers clearly understand that it is patriotism to give birth to many children and do so positively, our cause to build a powerful socialist country will hasten.”

Recalling the role of women in the war against Japan, Kim said: “It is certain that a good child is to be grown up under the care of a good mother.”

- Problem of food, clothing

Kim’s address to the mothers’ convention also pointed out food problems in the country of around 26 million people.

“An essential requirement of people’s life is the problems of food, clothing and housing,” he said, adding the North Korean ruling party’s program “for the rural revolution in the new era is a historic cause of solving the food problem for the people in a perfect and sustained way shortly.”

His comments came at a time when Pyongyang has closed at least seven of its diplomatic missions abroad in Bangladesh, Spain, Hong Kong, Uganda, Angola, Nepal, Senegal, and Guinea, bringing down the number of North Korea’s overseas diplomatic missions to around 46.

The move is seen as Pyongyang’s efforts to cut down public costs.

“To accomplish this cause at an early date,” he said, the party and the government have offered the countryside “lots of farm machines and farming supplies by mobilizing the important sector every year even in times of shortage and difficulties.”

He added that this year, the government has “launched large-scale projects to restore and perfect the irrigation facilities across the country, which had not been touched for decades, and thus made a big stride in laying the foundations for agricultural production.”

“At present, our agricultural sector is pushing ahead with the work to go over to farming with a focus on rice, wheat, and barley, developing animal husbandry and fruit farming, and building large-scale greenhouse farms,” Kim said.

“This work is for gratifying the desires of mothers who wish to provide their children and families with tasty and nutritious food all the time,” he added.