- North Korea has ramped up its crackdown on "capitalist" fashion, sources told Radio Free Asia.
- That includes anything from dyed hair to waist-long hair and tight jeans.
- Anyone caught must confess their crime and change into more "acceptable" clothing.
North Korea has ramped up its crackdown on tight jeans, dyed hair, and other styles showing "capitalist flair," sources in the country told Radio Free Asia.
In particular, the country's Socialist Patriotic Youth League is targeting women in their 20s and 30s, the US non-profit news outlet said, citing an unnamed source.
"The youth league's patrols are cracking down on young people who wear long hair down to their waists, and those who dye their hair brown, as well as people who wear clothes with large foreign letters and women who wear tight pants," the source told the outlet.
If caught, they must wait on the side of the road until the patrols have finished combing the area. Then, authorities will take them to the Youth League office, where they must "confess" their crimes in written letters. Offenders are only released after someone brings them "acceptable" clothes to wear, the source continued.
North Korea has banned piercings, skinny jeans, and hairstyles, including mullets, since last May, in a bid to keep the country free from "decadent" Western fashion trends. It came after the country's leader Kim Jong Un described foreign speech, hairstyles, and clothes as "dangerous poisons," per BBC.
The Youth League has recently scaled up its efforts in the crackdown, according to RFA's source. Last month, members of the state-run youth organization held a nationwide "educational session," defining the act of imitating foreign fashion and hairstyles as "capitalist flair," the source added.
Another unnamed source told RFA that patrols targeted a marketplace popular with many young people. Anyone caught is reported to their employer, she said.
"In the most severe cases, the violator's name, home address, and workplace will be revealed publicly on the Third Broadcast," the source said, referring to the state-controlled loudspeakers that spread propaganda across the country.
"Even though they have these kinds of crackdowns all the time, the young people do not stop trying to look and dress like people in foreign films and TV," she added.