These days, the news that comes out of North Korea is about 10 percent bizarre and 90 percent devastating. This falls into the “bizarre” category, with recent reports that Kim Jong-un has determined that all male students must have his haircut. It may not be all that much of a transition for North Korea, where men have traditionally only been allowed to choose from one of ten “approved” haircuts. But, even that limited amount of individuality is now out the door. However, in what seems to be an extremely rare move, North Koreans are actually voicing some dissension over this one.
“Our leader’s haircut is very particular, if you will,” an anonymous source told Radio Free Asia, in a nice bit of linguistic diplomacy. “It doesn’t always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes.” That might be putting it mildly. According to the BBC, until Kim Jong-un and his hair came to power, the haircut was known (apparently in a bit of racially tinged jest) as the “Chinese smuggler haircut” …