A woman who gave birth to triplets, an occurrence that typically leads to interest from the state and special benefits, was forcibly removed from a Pyongyang-based maternity hospital after four months, along with her children.
Kim Il Sung once proclaimed that “the birth of triplets is a good sign for the country,” and North Korea has since recorded the number of triplets born in the country. Pregnant women expecting triplets are immediately moved to a maternity hospital in Pyongyang and given special care during the entire process leading up to delivery. Families of triplets are even given special treatment as their children grow older.
The North Korean media has long reported on the special treatment the state gives to pregnant women who are confirmed to be carrying triplets, including transport to a maternity hospital in Pyongyang and the special treatment they receive before and after delivery.
The triplets born in June at the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, however, were suddenly sent back to their home in Ryanggang Province and the authorities have remained silent on the issue. There are a number of rumors circulating, with one involving the content of an interview given by the triplet’s father during a recent interview with TV journalists.
“During the process of interviewing the father at his home in Ryanggang Province after the birth of the triplets, journalists affiliated with KCNA recorded the father talking about his family’s situation in negative terms and making complaints about his life,” said a source in Pyongyang, citing what he heard from an official affiliated with the local People’s Committee.
“The mother and kids were in Pyongyang, but the father was still at home in Ryanggang Province so he wasn’t sure what to say during the interview. He is a farmer who doesn’t know the ways of the world, so without thinking, he talked about the fact that his family was so poor that they were not able to eat properly during his wife’s pregnancy and that he was worried about how he would raise his three kids.”
He added that the “interview fizzled out after that and was not broadcast […] The content of the interview was reported to the Central Party and the father was called an ‘ungrateful person,’ which led the mother and kids to be thrown out of the hospital and sent back home.”
Defectors say that interviewees must always give thanks to the Kim family and promise that they will achieve all the tasks they have been given in the future.
“These days, North Koreans lead difficult lives and even complain [amongst themselves] about the state so [the father] likely just did that without thinking [of the consequences]. The Party officials failed to give him proper instructions before the interview. The Pyongyang journalists only know how to praise the regime and don’t know anything about the realities in the country,” one defector who entered South Korea in 2017 told Daily NK on condition of anonymity.
According to a source in Ryanggang Province, the family did not receive the ornamental silver knife or gold rings that are traditionally given, and are currently not receiving any special medical attention or benefits.
Without knowing why everything changed so quickly, the mother reportedly became severely depressed after becoming the target of criticism by the Party and was forced to leave the maternity hospital to return home.
“Their neighbors were excited to learn that the mother would be heading to Pyongyang and celebrated it as something good that had come to the county as a whole,” the Ryanggang Province-based source said.
“Now they feel sorry for the family and the difficult days ahead for the children.”
