North Korea has a history of weird bans: What are they?
North Korea has been in the news for many times for strange reasons. In the December last year, the country prohibited laughing, drinking and partying for 11 consecutive days, to mark the 10th death anniversary of their former supreme leader Kim Jong-il. This was regarded as not only weird and unusual and also raised curiosity among the global population. Additionally, North Korea also ranked last in the United Nation’s Democracy Index of 2021. Here is a list of some weird restrictions that North Korea has imposed on its citizens.
Fashion Police
In November 2021, the present North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared in front of the global media wearing leather trench coats on more than one occasions. Thereafter, North Korean government allegedly started cracking down counterfeit or imported leather apparels, especially trench coats. Many reports suggested that this strict step was implemented so that North Korean citizens were unable to imitate the leader’s fashion statement. However, this wasn’t the first time North Korea imposed heavy regulation on its citizen’s fashion choices. Earlier, it was also reported that the Kim Jong-un led government had banned skinny jeans and piercings, calling them symbols of ‘capitalist lifestyle.’
Ban on hygiene products
North Korea has ban on manufacturing hygiene products like sanitary pads and tampons in the country. To cope with this practice, North Korean women is said to make their own sanitary products from cotton cloth materials available around them and also reuse them as much as possible. Apart from these, North Korea also has bans on contraceptives in a n attempt to reverse the country’s falling birth rate.
Limited internet access
If fashion and hygiene products weren’t enough, North Korea also has a restriction on the use of smartphones and internet. In fact, until 2008, cell phones and internet were considered to be illegal in the country. And even though the country now lets its citizens use internet and mobile phones, their access to internet services is limited and constantly monitored by the government. As a matter of fact, the entire country is dependent on their walled-off national intranet service called ‘Kwangmyong.’ Foreign dignitaries and tourists aren’t allowed to use unlimited internet in the country either.
Ban on American products
North Korea considers America as a capitalist nation and hence bans almost all products that are essentially American. For instance, North Korea happens to be the only country in the world where American soda brand Coca-Cola is not available. In fact, the country also had put a ban on American hairstyles and even distributed government approved hairstyles posters across salons in the country. Apparently, North Korean leader believes that longer hairstyles suck out important nutrients from the brains and negatively impact the wellbeing of its citizens. To further cancel out capitalist ways of life, a nationalised TV show called ‘Let’s Trim Our Hair in Accordance with the Socialist Lifestyle’ was also released, back in 2005.