North Korean leader urges support for women in letter to major union of housewives

Members of the Socialist Women's Union of Korea (SWUK), a North Korean organization consisting of housewives, show their Workers' Party membership cards at the SWUK congress meeting held in Pyongyang in this photo released by North's Korean Central News Agency, June 22. Yonhap

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un urged support for women in a message to the country's major organization consisting of housewives, state media said Tuesday.

The Socialist Women's Union of Korea (SWUK) held its seventh congress meeting from Sunday to Monday and read out Kim's letter praising the union as the "great pride" of the ruling Workers' Party, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Kim called on the party to show support and love for women, saying that respecting women is a "great virtue of the communists and an important sign that shows how civilized a society is."

He also called for efforts to boost employment for members of the women's union within working age and urged the union to prompt all members to devote themselves to implementing the decisions made at the party congress of the ruling party.

At the eighth congress of the Workers' Party in early January, the North unveiled a new five-year economic development plan with a focus on self-reliance and other policy directions against the coronavirus pandemic and global sanctions on its regime.

The North has since held congress meetings of the country's largest labor union, the General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea, and Socialist Patriotic Youth League, a youth association, to drum up support for the decisions unveiled at the party congress.

Jang Chun-sil, the chief of the SWUK, stressed that the union faces "honorable duty to fully display its militant might" in implementing the tasks set forth at the latest party congress.

Kim Jong-sun was elected as the new chairwoman of the Central Committee of the union. (Yonhap)

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