In a tragic incident, a pregnant girl in the second year of high school in the North Korean city of Hamhung recently ended her own life, Daily NK has learned.
“In the middle of last month [October], a second-year high school girl in the Sapo District of Hamhung killed herself in the fourth month of pregnancy. She resorted to suicide because of the negative attention she received after gossip about her pregnancy spread throughout the community,” a source in South Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Nov. 1.
In the insular and conservative society of North Korea, teenage pregnancies are typically viewed harshly by both the community and the family. If rumors begin to spread, the source said, the pregnant girl typically has to face not only derision from her friends but also sanctimonious looks from her teachers. Often, such girls are even shunned by their own family.
Amid society’s negative perceptions toward teen pregnancy, the teenage girl in question took matters into her own hands without even telling her parents that she was pregnant.
Early on, the girl did not realize she was pregnant, but became aware of the fact in mid-September and then sought to get an abortion, according to the source.
With that in mind, the girl told her best friend in her grade that she was pregnant and borrowed KPW 100,000 from her. But that friend then shared the news with other students, who started to share the gossip.
After that, the girl began to receive negative attention from people in the community. Unable to endure the shame, degradation and pain, she ultimately took her own life, based on the source’s account.
“Teenage girls in North Korea occasionally commit suicide after an unwanted pregnancy. This was a tragic incident in which this teenage girl was unable to deal with her feelings of shame and being shunned and stared at, leading to her death. This was due to backward attitudes in society about her pregnancy,” the source said.
“Another thing driving pregnant teenagers to commit suicide is the fact that North Koreans are taught that getting pregnant [out of wedlock] is an example of the bad behavior and juvenile delinquency brought on by exposure to capitalism,” she added.
If you or anyone you know is in crisis, please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention website for links and helplines.
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