Breast implants latest in Kim Jong-un’s strange list of bans: Why North Korea is expanding crackdowns

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - File Photo

North Korea has long been known for its heavy restrictions on daily life, from banning Western-style clothing to limiting acceptable hairstyles. Now, the regime has added another unusual prohibition to its long list of so-called “anti-socialist” practices: breast implants. According to reports, the North Korean leadership has declared cosmetic surgery, particularly breast enlargement, as “bourgeois,” calling it a symbol of capitalist vanity that undermines socialist values.

This decision marks yet another expansion of state control into private life, reflecting the extreme lengths to which the regime will go to curb what it sees as foreign cultural infiltration.

Public trial in Sariwon

The ban gained attention after a dramatic public trial was held in Sariwon, about 75 kilometres from Pyongyang. A doctor and two women in their twenties were paraded before a large audience after being caught in an underground cosmetic surgery operation.

The doctor had not completed his medical training and was reportedly performing procedures at home using silicone smuggled in from China. When apprehended, authorities confiscated surgical tools, bundles of cash, and imported silicone, which were all displayed as evidence during the trial.

Eyewitness accounts described the scene as humiliating. The doctor stood on stage with his head bowed, while the women admitted they had chosen the surgery to “improve their figure.” Prosecutors denounced them for being “tainted by bourgeois customs” and for indulging in “rotten capitalist behaviour.”

The judge reinforced this narrative, declaring, “Instead of being loyal to the organisation and collective, they were consumed by vanity and became poisonous weeds that erode the socialist system.”

Perhaps the most shocking revelation came when it was reported that the Security Bureau had carried out physical examinations on other women suspected of undergoing breast surgery, leaving many in attendance horrified.

Nationwide crackdown ordered

Following the trial, the Ministry of Public Safety issued an emergency order for a nationwide crackdown on cosmetic surgery. Local neighbourhood watch groups were instructed to report women who appeared to have undergone breast augmentation or double-eyelid surgery. Those identified would be sent to hospitals for further checks.

According to sources cited by Daily NK, “strike teams” in plain clothes have begun patrolling central Pyongyang to identify possible offenders. Women and doctors found guilty face harsh punishments, including forced labour training, under charges of “anti-socialist behaviour.”

The atmosphere of fear has been particularly strong in Sariwon, where young women worry about being subjected to invasive inspections if authorities become suspicious.

An expanding list of bans

North Korea’s crackdown on cosmetic surgery is only the latest in a long series of restrictions on personal choice. Everyday words such as “ice cream,” “hamburger,” and “karaoke” have been banned, replaced by cumbersome state-approved alternatives. For example, “hamburger” must be called dajin-gogi gyeopppang, literally meaning “double bread with ground beef.”

Food items like hot dogs have been outlawed altogether, with their consumption classified as treason. Reports even suggest that popular South Korean street foods such as tteokbokki, or spicy rice cakes, have also been banned.

Fashion and grooming remain tightly controlled. Jeans, short skirts, high heels, branded clothing, and unauthorised makeup are forbidden. Hairstyles must conform to government-approved styles, with regulations on hair length for both men and women.

An intensifying repression

This new ban comes against the backdrop of growing international concern about the regime’s repression. A United Nations review earlier this year noted that restrictions in North Korea have only intensified over the past decade. The report cited cases of executions for citizens caught watching foreign films or dramas, concluding that “no other population is under such restrictions in today’s world.”

With cosmetic surgery now in the crosshairs, North Korea has once again shown that under Kim Jong-un, even the most personal decisions are vulnerable to state control. The breast implant ban may seem extreme, but for many North Koreans, it is only the latest reminder that their daily lives are subject to some of the harshest restrictions anywhere on earth.