North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un called women “physically weak” with “plain faces” while also thanking them for being “the strong pillars of the revolution” in a bizarre speech on International Women’s Day.
According to the state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), he expressed “special thanks to all the Korean women for their unusual and unknown efforts”.
“When our women continue to carry forward the traditions of patriotism by fulfilling their irreplaceable responsibility and role, our society will get stronger and more prosperous,” the outlet quoted Mr Kim as saying.
“Our contemporary women... have become a solid buttress of the revolution,” Mr Kim said. “Though physically weak, they are obviously strong-willed, their plain faces assuming courage and the wrinkles on them denoting their strenuous exertion,” he added.
During the event marking International Women’s Day, Mr Kim’s wife Ri Sol Ju and daughter Ju Ae were seen with the North Korean leader. The daughter, touted to be the successor to Mr Kim, was seen holding her father’s hand.
Mr Kim said: “I want to say proudly that all the Korean women who are dear to us – mothers, wives, daughters and girlfriends – are really beautiful and great, as compared with women in other countries.
“Korean women, who have remained honest in times of difficulties, stout-hearted in moments of sorrow and courageous even in the face of death, have recorded remarkable exploits in the annals of the revolution and in the pages of history. These exploits still remain in our memory, serving as our strong spiritual mainstay.”
KCNA said Mr Kim received enthusiastic applause after his speech.
According to Human Rights Watch, “despite claims by officials in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that gender equality has been achieved, North Korean women and girls are subject to intense and pervasive human rights abuses, including sexual and gender-based violence, widespread discrimination, and enforcement of rigid gender stereotypes”.
The global rights group also said that deeply patriarchal norms limit women’s roles in North Korea largely to domestic responsibilities and low-level economic activity. It said that women remain severely under-represented in senior political and military leadership.
“The number of women in the Central Committee has doubled between 2016 and 2019, with increased visibility in state-run media of female officials like Kim Yo Jong, Kim Kyong Hui, and Choe Son Hui. However, the increased involvement of women in leadership does not appear to have resulted in policy changes,” the rights group said in 2022.
