The Korean Workers' Party has launched inspections of students' clothing, hairstyles and personal belongings at major universities in Pyongyang, targeting behavior it has labeled "capitalist delinquent style" — including imitating makeup or eyeglass frames seen in K-dramas and male students wearing sunscreen or cologne.
A Pyongyang-based source told Daily NK on Wednesday that enforcement units of the Socialist Patriotic Youth League, a Workers' Party-affiliated organization, have been stationed at universities across the capital to inspect students' attire and possessions on an ongoing basis.
According to the source, on Aug. 8 the Youth League's central committee issued instructions to Pyongyang University of Architecture, Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies, Jang Chol Gu Pyongyang University of Commerce and other institutions, ordering an intensive month-long inspection of student dress codes beginning mid-August.
Each university's Youth League committee subsequently called students back from vacation on an emergency basis to brief them on the scope of the inspections and what to avoid.
"They said they would scrutinize not only clothing and hairstyles but also cosmetics use and the shape of eyeglass frames," the source said, adding that inspectors warned they could conduct unannounced checks of bag contents and files stored on mobile phones.
Some students have recently been imitating makeup styles or wearing eyeglass frames similar to those seen in South Korean films and drama series, the source said.
The Youth League has particularly singled out male students applying sunscreen or wearing perfume as an "anti-socialist phenomenon" tainted by "capitalist delinquent style," according to the source.
"They're even taking issue with eyeglass frames and face cream, so the mood on campus is like walking on thin ice," the source said. "Students are on edge, afraid of being caught out for something they don't even know counts as anti-socialist."
jshan@heraldcorp.com
