North Korea Marks Women’s Day with ‘Ideological Lectures for Housewives’ Urging More Pregnancies

The repressive communist regime of North Korea marked “International Women’s Day” on Wednesday by forcing women to sit through “ideological lectures for housewives” in which Workers’ Party propagandists pressured them to have more children to be used by the state as soldiers.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) confirmed the mandatory presentations featuring “some patriots who sent seven or eight of their kids to the military,” citing anonymous sources within the country. In public, North Korea’s state propaganda arms published articles sharing the same message: that International Women’s Day is a good time to pressure women “to give birth to many children” to accelerate “the advance speed of our socialist country.”

“Let us become supporters of our Party and communist mothers who lead the new generation, the pillars of our revolution, to communist society,” the North Korean regime propaganda outlet Naenara proclaimed.

The United Nations first recognized International Women’s Day – an occasion “strongly linked” to the Russian communist revolution, the U.N. notes on its website – in 1977. Women are currently the minority of human beings on earth, in part as a result of China’s decades-long “One-Child Policy,” which killed at least 400 million people, most of them baby girls, between 1979 and 2015. To this day, China, the world’s most populous country, is home to over 30 million more men than women.

“The 113th March 8 International Women’s Day was significantly celebrated in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the state’s “Voice of Korea” propaganda outlet proclaimed, detailing a government-mandated event to honor communist women in the heart of Pyongyang.

“Lots of people laid floral baskets, bouquets and flowers before the bronze statues and smiling portraits of the great leaders on Mansu Hill and in different other places of the country and paid tribute to them,” the outlet described, referring to statues of Kim Il-sung, the founder of communist North Korea, and his son, former dictator Kim Jong-il.

“Officials of the provinces, cities, counties, institutions, industrial establishments and farms met and congratulated exemplary working women including scientists, teachers and labour innovators of the units concerned,” the report continued, adding that the regime also staged sporting events and a concert on Wednesday.

According to RFA’s sources, prior to Wednesday, North Korean communist leaders spent over a week mandating lectures browbeating local women in communities around the country to have more children.

“Last week, a lecture was held on active support for the People’s Army, saying that having many children and sending them to the People’s Army is the greatest patriotism,” one source described. Another said housewives were forced to listen to addresses celebrating other mothers “who sent seven or eight of their kids to the military as an example.”

“The lecturer emphasized the need to have a patriotic spirit that puts the needs of the country ahead of the family, like these women have,” the person noted.

According to RFA, in addition to indoctrination, the lectures served as events to demand that local, impoverished families donate money to the North Korean armed forces.

North Korea’s official state media arms did not mention any calls for donations. They instead emphasized dictator Kim Jong-un’s alleged love for women.

“Today the life of the women is shedding more brilliant rays under the care of the respected Comrade Kim Jong-un, who is carrying forward the noble intention of the great leaders,” the flagship Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) proclaimed. “The warm loving care of Kim Jong-un, who treasures the women, is associated with the grand concerts held to mark International Women’s Day and the modern and general medical centers and production bases built for the good of the women and the stories of love for them seen throughout the country.”

Other reports emphasized Kim’s interest in “producing dairy products for children,” a topic North Korean media reported on heavily at the height of America’s infant formula shortage last year.

International Women’s Day coverage in the state outlet Naenara, focusing on the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea, emphasized childbearing as a “noble revolutionary undertaking.”

“It is a source of pride and might of the country to have an organization of such mothers (Socialist Women’s Union of Korea), who place state affairs above those of their families and push forward one of the two wheels of the revolution,” the outlet asserted.

“We are directing our efforts into encouraging the union members to give birth to many children, pay attention to their growth and development and glorify their genuine life in the places demanded by the times,” Naenara reported, describing the goals of the Union. “The members are striving to transform themselves into communists, who take a lion’s share in socialist construction.”

Unlike his predecessors – his father and grandfather – Kim Jong-un has made a point of elevating the profiles of the women in his family, particularly his sister, Kim Yo-jong, and his tween-aged daughter. Kim Yo-jong is a prominent Korean government official tasked with publishing rude and violent commentary against the United States. She became an internationally recognized figure after Kim Jong-un sent her to represent the country during the 2018 Winter Olympics in neighboring South Korea, which North Korea is technically still at war against.

Kim Yo-jong regularly threatens to use nuclear weapons against the United States. Most recently, Kim warned American officials, “The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the U.S. forces’ action character. We affirm once again that there is no change in our will to make the worst maniacs escalating the tensions pay the price for their action.”

Kim Jong-un’s daughter – believed to be named Kim Ju-ae, though the regime has not confirmed her name or used it publicly – made her debut alongside her father during an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test in November. Kim’s daughter, believed to be between nine and 13 years old, appeared alongside him monitoring military activity and posing with soldiers.

“By showing his daughter next to the ICBM, [Kim] is announcing to the world and his people that DPRK will never give up its nuclear program and it will be carried on throughout his lineage,” South Korean lawmaker Tae Yong-ho, a defector from North Korea, told the Washington Post at the time.

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.