Stalinist North Korea marked World Women's Day Monday with a call for women to give birth to more children and take a leading role in reviving the country's moribund economy.
"Women have the heavy duty of providing the succeeding generation of the military-oriented revolution," the North's ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in an editorial monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
It highlighted the example of a mother who raised eight sons as soldiers loyal to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
"The Korean women are a powerful force of building a great prosperous powerful nation," the editorial said.
Experts in Seoul say North Korea has suffered a workforce shortage due to its low birth rate caused by famine since the mid-1990s which has claimed millions of people since 1955.
US data showed the North's population growth rate stood at 1.07 percent last year, compared to 1.1 percent in 2002 with its birth rate per 1,000 people down from 19.1 in 2001 to 17.61 last year.
Women account for nearly half the total workforce in North Korea, which says it has achieved a high level of gender equality.
{{/usCountry}}Women account for nearly half the total workforce in North Korea, which says it has achieved a high level of gender equality.
{{/usCountry}}South Korea's birth rate has also plunged to the lowest in the world in 2002 because of lower fertility.
South Korean women have an average of 1.17 children, compared to 1.33 in Japan and 2.231 in the United States.