• Source:JND
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North Korea breast implants ban: North Korea has intensified its months-long campaign against what it calls “anti-socialist” behaviour, with breast implants now at the centre of the crackdown. The move, ordered by the regime of Kim Jong Un, targets women suspected of undergoing cosmetic procedures, which officials say represent “bourgeois” Western influence.

Under the new directive, neighbourhood surveillance teams, undercover sting operations, and hospital examinations have been authorised to identify women who may have had breast enhancement surgery. Those found guilty could face public shaming, imprisonment, or forced labour.

High-Profile Public Trial Sparks Crackdown

The crackdown gained momentum following a widely criticised trial in mid-September in Sariwon, a city 75 kilometres south of Pyongyang. Two women in their twenties and a doctor were publicly tried for undergoing and performing breast augmentation procedures. According to sources cited by Daily NK, the doctor used silicone smuggled from China and operated from his home. During the trial, surgical tools, implants, and cash were displayed as evidence, and the judge described the procedures as a “rotten capitalist act” that undermined the socialist system.

Eyewitnesses reported that the women stood on stage with heads bowed in shame, admitting they had pursued surgery to “improve their bodies.” Prosecutors condemned the women for being “tainted by bourgeois customs” and warned that vanity was a threat to collective loyalty.

Following the trial, the Ministry of Public Safety issued an emergency order to the Pyongyang City Public Security Department. Local neighbourhood leaders are tasked with flagging women suspected of cosmetic surgery. Authorities may then conduct hospital examinations to confirm any procedures. Strike teams in plain clothes are reportedly deployed in central Pyongyang to apprehend underground surgeons and their clients. Female officers have been reportedly going undercover as patients to catch unlicensed practitioners.

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Why Cosmetic Surgery Is Seen As Anti-Socialist?

Breast implants and other cosmetic surgeries in North Korea are not just viewed as medical offenses, but as a danger to ideology. The regime sees them as proof of Western influence, ego, and capitalist values, values that are antithetical to socialist devotion. To Kim Jong Un's regime, regulating people's physical appearance is no less important than political compliance.

This new crackdown is one of a series of measures aimed at reducing foreign influence. North Korea has also prohibited:

• Language: Terms such as "ice cream," "hamburger," and "karaoke" are banned; citizens are required to use approved substitutes.

• Food: Hot dogs and certain South Korean street snacks, including tteokbokki, are off-limits.

• Fashion and Grooming: Short lengths, jeans, high heels, flashy logos, and unauthorized makeup are prohibited. Haircuts must conform to government-approved styles and length.

 ALSO READ: ‘Hamburgers, Ice Cream’ Banned In North Korea? Inside Kim Jong Un’s Latest Crackdown

For the ordinary citizen, the crackdown shows how far North Korea pushes ideological control into everyday life. Cosmetic surgery, previously an individual choice, is now criminalised. A United Nations assessment quoted by the BBC writes that North Korea is the globe's most oppressive surveillance state, with citizens subject to arbitrary detentions, public punishment, and rigid conformity even within personal life.