At first glance, it looks like Kim Jong-un had a great year in 2023. But even spectacular missile tests and the new proximity to Russia cannot distract from the problems of his regime.
At the beginning of December, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un summoned thousands of women to the large indoor stadium in the capital Pyongyang. It was obviously important to him to speak to them, because the so-called “National Assembly of Mothers” had only taken place four times since the founding of the Korean People’s Republic in 1948, most recently eleven years ago. In fact, at the rare convention, Kim Jong-un also listed various undesirable developments in North Korea that the housewives loyal to the state should do their utmost to counteract. He talked about “the recently growing anti-socialist problems” and about the “declining birth rate.” Kim particularly complained about foreign influences in his long final speech. He urged mothers to discipline their children through hard work. And he swore the plenum to a patriotic life with “hardships” and a “lack of all things.”