REUTERS/KCNAKim Jong Un sporting the “ambitious” hairdo, alongside his wife, Ri Sol Ju.In the latest freaky news to come out of North Korea, citizens are reportedly being ordered to replicate leader Kim Jong Un’s “ambitious” hairstyle.
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Officials agreed to vice-minister-level talks on December 11 at the industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong just a few kilometers on the northern side of the border run jointly by the two Koreas, a joint press statement said.
In this photo provided by the South Korean Unification Ministry, South Korea’s chief delegate Kim Kiwoong, right, shakes hands with his North Korean counterpart Hwang Chol during a meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015. While the South Korean side called for a broader agenda, the North Korean side insisted on making the resumption of tourism at Mt. Keumgang a key focus.
A similar effort back in June 2013 saw both sides agree to hold what would have been the first high-level dialogue for six years – only for Pyongyang to cancel a day before the scheduled meeting.
The North is likely to suggest resuming the inter-Korean tour program at Mount Geumgang in the North, a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation. The biggest issue at the meeting was reportedly the intergovernmental talks’ agenda, with most of the time spent addressing the scope of “pressing issues in the improvement of inter-Korean relations”.
Kim’s term was bookended by two major events, the first nuclear crisis with North Korea in 1994 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, when he accepted a $58-billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
There are still continuing animosities between the rivals, which remain divided along the world’s most heavily fortified border since their 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Sources in Pyongyang, quoted by South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, said authorities in the North Korean capital have issued an order requiring that men keep their hair to a maximum 2 cm (0.8 inches) in length.
The United Nations is also understood to be in discussions with North Korea over a visit by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – possibly before the end of the year.
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“The government plans to prepare for the upcoming high-level talks in a bid to help the inter-Korean ties genuinely improve”, Jeong Joon-hee, ministry spokesman, told a press briefing.
