Women's Day highlights North Korea's stark patriarchal reality

Despite gains by a few elites, most women in the country suffer inequality

20230307 wife and sister Kim Jong un

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauds with his wife Ri Sol Ju, center, and sister Kim Yo Jong, left, at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas on April 27, 2018. (File photo by Korea Summit Press Pool/Reuters)

GABRIELA BERNAL, contributing writer

SEOUL -- In early March, an organization of social scientists issued a statement celebrating the status of women in North Korea.

"Today many women in the world suffer from deprivation of political rights and social inequalities," the statement from the Korean Association of Social Scientists, a state body, reads. "However, women lead a happy life as masters of the state and society" in North Korea where "women's rights are ensured."

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