North Korea Celebrates Triplets Amid Birth Rate Crisis
Newsweek reached out to the North Korean embassy in China via email with a request for comment.
The North Korean authorities don't regularly publish population figures. United Nations estimates based on records released in past decades put the country's fertility rate at 1.78 births per woman last year-below the 2.1 threshold needed to sustain a population.
This is higher than fertility rates of South Korea, Japan, and China, which are already scrambling to adapt to their aging populations. However, international sanctions over the Kim Jong Un regime's nuclear weapons program have deprived the country of 26 million of many types of advanced automated machinery and left it more reliant on manual labor than its East Asian neighbors.
The three boys were born in February to Kim Hyang Mi, a resident of Tokchon City, whose husband, Kim Nam Il, works at a local coal mine, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
After learning she was pregnant with triplets, Kim was transferred to Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, where she reportedly received the best care available.
The weight of one of the newborns was only 1.18 kg (4 pounds)-a cause for concern. All three now weigh over 4 kg (8.8 pounds) and are considered healthy, according to the report. They were discharged from the hospital on Monday.
The extent of medical attention given to Kim and the triplets signals the seriousness with which the authorities are taking the declining birthrate.
The announcement follows a September report by Radio Free Asia that authorities had punished doctors for performing secret abortions and cracked down on marketplace vendors selling contraceptives.
While the government has in recent years made some efforts to improve the health of its youngest citizens-such as mandating free dairy products-human rights groups citing local sources have detailed harsh punishments meted out to children, including lengthy prison camp terms for offenses committed by family members.
On Saturday, the regime published images of a celebratory event marking International Children's Day, which critics saw as an attempt to whitewash its image amid international condemnation over its human rights record.
Young-Jin Choi, a professor at South Korea's Yonsei University, wrote in a Marchreport for North Korea-focused outlet 38 North: "North Korea is expected to enter into an aging society, with more than 14 percent of its population being 65 or older by 2025.
"If these trends continue, North Korea will likely face a vicious cycle in which the low birth rate and an aging population will cause a further decline in economic vitality, which in turn will further aggravate the low birth rate and aging population problems."
This trend is also likely to worry Kim as his military, the fourth-largest in the world, with roughly 30 percent of the population serving in active or reserve roles, amid ongoing tensions with the U.S.-allied South.
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