University students usually relish the chance to wear their hair however they want without their parents around, but that’s not going to go over well in North Korea. All male university students reportedly must wear their hair in the same style as the country’s dictator, Kim Jong Un.
A source told Radio Free Asia that, for the past two weeks, students have been forced to wear the “Dear Kim Jong Un” haircut, reports the Korean Times.
“Our leader's haircut is very particular, if you will,” a source told RFA. “It doesn't always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes.”
The BBC notes that one North Korean who lives in China said that the haircut was met with disapproval by many, since, “Until the mid-2000s, we called it the 'Chinese smuggler haircut.’”
It’s not clear if these reports are true or not, since NK News noted that visitors to Pyongyang have not noticed the hairstyle. It is hard to verify, since the communist state is so isolated from the rest of the world.
TIME notes that women also have limits on their hairstyles, as they can only pick from a selection of state-approved ‘dos.