North Korea CRACKS DOWN on ‘non-socialist behaviour’ in lead-up to HUGE celebration

The public holiday, which marks North Korea’s formation on September 9 1948, is known as the Day of the Foundation of the Republic, which takes place annually.

But sources have claimed youth groups from the ruling Workers’ Party of North Korea (WPK) are being deployed throughout the hermit state to warn or detain citizens conforming to condemned fashion or hairstyles.

A source under the condition of anonymity, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) the new campaign follows Pyongyang’s efforts to suppress lifestyles that do not conform to socialist ideals.

The source, based in the North Hamgyong province on the border of China, said: “Inspection units are being dispatched to public areas.

“There have been crackdowns on non-socialist behaviours in the past, but since these hadn’t seemed to help the situation, they are now strengthening the crackdown to put an end to them

“With the approach of the 70th anniversary on September 9 of the founding of the North Korean regime, the Central Committee has given special instructions to root out non-socialist phenomena, such as fashion choices and hairstyles that do not fit the socialist lifestyle.”

The source also told RFA that orders were given at meetings held in factories and work units.

The source said “non-socialist” behaviours were being descrbed to citizens as specilaist “manoeuvres”, carried out by people actively opposing the North Korean political system.

The anonymous source said: “Because non-socialist behaviors can be observed especially among the young, members of the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League have been assigned from each province, county, and city to lead the crackdown.

“These behaviors are now to be handled “strictly”, they said, so residents of the country are definitely feeling uneasy.

“Punishments have become much stricter,”

Another anonymous source based in Yanggang Province, which also sits on the border with China, said the celebration on September 9 would attract outside visitors from abroad to the isolated country.

The source said: “Many foreigners are expected to visit major cities, including the capital Pyongyang.”

“Therefore, enforcers are active on the streets and in public areas every day to stop ‘unenlightened’ people from displaying behaviors that might disgrace the country.”

“These events are nothing new, so people are wondering why the authorities are bothering them so much now, and some are expressing negative feelings toward the holiday because they resent the government’s control.”

On Monday, it was announced that families torn apart by the 1950-52 Korean War will be reunited temporarily in North Korea starting from Monday.

The move follows improved diplomatic relations between the North and the South.

The reunions, the first in three years, will involve some 180 families and take place in North Korea’s tourist resort on Mount Kumgang, as agreed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their first summit in April.

More than 57,000 Koreans have registered for a reunion.

The separated families are victims of a decades-long stalemate between the neighbouring nations, which has escalated in recent years as Pyongyang advanced its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.