N. Korean scholar casts population decline as threat to national development

North Korea is showing growing concern that its declining birth rate could eventually undermine national development, with a state scholar describing population decline as a serious challenge to a country’s survival and future. In an article posted Friday on the website of Kim Il Sung University, Ho Kwang-rim, a professor in the university’s economics faculty, said persistently falling birth rates were leading to population decline in an increasing number of countries. Such a trend has become a