A growing number of North Korean couples are demanding divorces due to financial difficulties, Daily NK has learned.
A source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Wednesday that there has been a growing number of divorces of late in provincial cities.
“The chief of the provincial court even told an expanded meeting of the provincial party committee of South Pyongan Province that divorce applications have recently increased, creating a serious problem,” he said.
In principle, North Korea does not recognize divorce by mutual consent. Divorce is by court order only. Article 21 of North Korea’s family law stipulates that a couple can divorce if a “spouse has seriously betrayed the love and trust of a married couple, or if the couple cannot continue with married life for some other reason.”
In fact, North Korean authorities claim that divorce destroys social stability, believing that the maintenance of the family is a gravely important matter directly tied to social survival and development.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reportedly told provincial party committees and judicial officers in early March to treat people getting divorced as “individuals who cause socal chaos and oppose socialist lifestyles.”
Daily NK’s source said financial problems are the biggest reason behind the rising divorce numbers in the country, noting that three times as many couples divorced this year than during the same period last year.
He says that more and more people want divorces because of economic difficulties due to COVID-19.
In fact, recently, North Korean women seem to prefer living together in common-law marriages instead of legally tying the knot. If women get married, not only do they face the additional burden of supporting even their husbands, but divorce is hard to obtain, so they prefer living together in legally unenforceable relationships, said the source.
Meanwhile, North Korean authorities are trying all sorts of ways to stop people from getting divorced.
In fact, Daily NK reported in June of last year that North Korea was sentencing the partner at fault in divorce cases to six months of forced labor. The authorities are even handing down legally unstipulated punishments to stop divorces.
Radio Free Asia also reported in July that divorces due to financial trouble were on the rise in North Korea, and that authorities were limiting the number of divorce cases each court could handle in a bid to prevent divorces.
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