North Korea declares war on jeans and Western haircuts, "symbols of capitalism"

North Korea wants to ban any foreign influence: from jeans to the way of speaking that reminds other countries. At the end of last year, a new “anti-reactionary thought” law was imposed, which severely punishes anyone who owns South Korean films with sentences of up to 15 years in a prison camp.. According to North Korean media, that rule also prohibits speaking or writing as a South Korean would, and if a person is caught trying to import prohibited material from Seoul, they can face the death penalty.

This rule has been followed by new instructions from leader Kim Jong-un to ban jeans, piercings or Western haircuts, all with the aim of preventing “capitalist culture from taking over the country”..

This Monday, the BBC publishes an extensive report recapitulating the different measures with which North Korea has declared war on this dangerous “capitalist lifestyle”, while recapitulating harsh testimonies from those who have experienced these punishments up close.. Take Yoon Mi-So, for example, who was only 11 years old when she first saw a man executed for watching a South Korean movie.. “He was blindfolded, the blindfold was completely drenched in his tears. They put him on a stake, tied him up and then shot him, he tells the BBC.

In late May, Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official newspaper, published an article expressing concern about young North Koreans increasingly embracing Western fashion trends.. “We must watch out for the slightest sign of the capitalist way of life and fight to get rid of them,” the article said.. The new fashion rules are part of the regime's crackdown on “anti-socialist behaviour”. Thus, North Korea has banned all “non-socialist” haircuts and issued an order on “proper” hairstyles, the newspaper said.. According to documents released by the Patriotic Youth League, members of this league must act as a “fashion police” to ensure that no one wears “foreign-looking clothing.”

In this sense, the BBC echoes information published by The Daily NK, a South Korean publication with sources in Pyongyang, according to which three teenagers were sent to a re-education camp for folding their pants above the ankles.

According to analysts, all these regulations are intended to try to prevent external information from reaching the people of North Korea, an isolated country – even more so since the pandemic – where millions of people suffer from hunger.. Kim Jong-un does not want the population to know that outside its borders, as close as in Seoul, there is wealth and greater chances of getting ahead.

According to the testimony collected by the BBC from Choi Jong-hoon, one of the few deserters who managed to leave the country in the last year, “the more difficult the times we live in, the more severe the regulations, laws and the punishments”. “Psychologically, when you have a full belly and watch a South Korean movie, it may be for pleasure.. But when you don't have food and it's a struggle to live, people get angry,” he added..