The country of North Korea has been making the news far too much recently. This communist regime is led by Kim Jong-un, who rules over this nation of some 25 million people. The populace is subjected to strict prohibitions, censoring, and isolationism. Nearly every aspect of their lives is rigidly controlled. Jong-un views himself as a kindly, generous, father-figure to his people. He believes that his government has lavished upon them everything that they need to live a comfortable, productive, state-run existence. This has given him warm feelings that have permeated him to his core. Thus he felt perfectly at ease naming himself supreme dictator of the country. His term is not "for life", but "for eternity". That really cuts down on the need for any sort of pesky campaign finance reform measures. The leadership of the nation of North Korea, or as it is formally named, "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea" (I am not certain whether it was named using irony or sarcasm), has reached the level of one of those cartoonish, campy movies that they used to lampoon on the old Mystery Science Theater 3000 show. The supreme dictator and his lackeys and military generals all sport a comical number of medals on their uniforms. These medals, which reflect more light than a Dolly Parton jumpsuit from the 1970s, look like they came from the discount bin at the local Dollar General store. Every one of these overstuffed cariactures is also wearing a farcical hat that is about 3 sizes too big. They always seem to have goofy grins on their face like one of them just passed gas.
One of the side pieces in the news that I read the other day brought back memories of a post that I wrote a few years ago about the Iranian government's crackdown on folks with unapproved hairstyles (see Dictated Style). Now we find that the North Koreans, not to be outdone by some group of Arabs, has its own government mandated list of allowed coifs. Reports are that the secret police round up all of its citizens whose hairstyles do not appear on the approved list and force them to get makeovers. Oh, the humanity. Of course the most amusing aspect of this story is that the supreme poobah, Jong-un himself, has a hairstyle that is not on the approved list. Shameful.
