Two weeks ago in North Korea, guidelines were established for state-approved haircuts requiring that all male university students have the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un.
“Our leader’s haircut is very particular, if you will,” one source told Radio Free Asia. “It doesn’t always go with everyone, since everyone has different face and head shapes.”
A North Korean man, now living in China, says Kim’s haircut is actually unpopular in North Korea because it is a haircut known for Chinese smugglers: “Until the mid-2000s, we called it the ‘Chinese smuggler haircut,'” the Korea Times reports.
State-approved haircuts have been a part of North Korean law for some time. Right now, there are 18 styles approved for women and 10 styles for men. Kim Jong-un’s good friend Dennis Rodman’s hairstyle does not appear to be sanctioned at this point in time. In 2005 North Korea TV launched a campaign against long hair called “Let Us Trim Our Hair in Accordance with the Socialist Lifestyle.”