As North Korean authorities intensify a crackdown on youth fashion, they’ve begun targeting young people who imitate Kim Jong Un’s clothing and hairstyle, particularly those who wear baggy pants similar to the leader’s. The unexpected crackdown, which began in early August in Chongjin, is being enforced by the Socialist Patriotic Youth League.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in North Hamgyong province told The Daily NK on Wednesday that North Korean youths call the baggy pants, which have far more legroom than other pants, “supreme leader pants.”
The sartorial choices of Kim Jong Un or his family often become trendy when they appear on television or in newspapers. As Kim’s baggy pants have become popular recently, students at Chongjin Railway University, Chongjin Medical University and other major universities in Chongjin have taken to wearing them.
However, the Socialist Patriotic Youth League organizations began cracking down on young people wearing baggy pants in early August, saying that “the pants looked good on people with robust figures like the supreme leader, but they looked bad on smaller-framed people,” according to the source.
“They crack down on shorts, claiming they do not go with the socialist lifestyle, but with baggy pants, they just crack down on them without explanation. However, they just warn us not to wear them. They don’t publicly criticize us like they do when we wear tight pants or shorts,” he explained.
“Baggy pants, known as ‘supreme leader pants,’ are so baggy that they can make you look like a scarecrow, so it seems that Pyongyang has quietly issued a fashion crackdown on people who wear them out of concern that such an image could be associated with Kim.”
Kim Jong Un-style hair also part of crackdown
Authorities have also cracked down on young people who wear their hair like Kim.
“University students are encouraged to wear their hair long on the sides and short on top, and they are cracking down on the so-called supreme leader hairstyle, with the sides cut almost to the scalp and the top left long,” the source said.
The organizations enforcing the crackdown have yet to explain exactly why they are objecting to the hairstyle. However, the source suggested that they may believe that “calling it the ‘supreme leader’s hair’ is itself a problem.”
Some people find it “very confusing” that “even following what the Supreme Leader does is a problem,” the source said.
“They didn’t stop people from wearing windbreakers and platform shoes when Kim Jong Il was in power, but now they’re stopping you from wearing see-through clothes like Kim Jong Un’s daughter, or baggy pants and leather jackets like Kim himself. Now that they’re cracking down on the supreme leader’s hairstyle, some people are whispering that it seems like they’re trying to separate the Paektu bloodline from the people.”
The Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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