A symbol of freedom. Why DPRK dictators are afraid of jeans like the plague

During a screening of the British TV program Garden Secrets with Alan Titchmarsh in North Korea, his jeans were censored because they symbolized "Western freedom and youth culture." The dictators of one of the most authoritarian countries in the world are terrified of this wardrobe item because of its association with the opposing country, the United States.

It turns out that they are banned not only in North Korea, but also in the former Soviet Union, Cuba, and other countries. According to the Daily Mail, hundreds of young people in eastern Germany wore blue jeans to protest the dictatorship on the occasion of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

"Jeans were considered a sign of capitalism, and therefore their owners were enemies of the state. To protect young people from the external influence of clothing, a socialist clothing culture was created," explained British journalist Anne McElwain.

As she notes, in the democratic Germany of the 1990s, people were ready to exchange jeans even for antiques, works of art, and car parts. Although after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this item became commonplace in European countries, the ban still exists in the communist DPRK, which lives behind the Iron Curtain.

"I remember the days when jeans had a magical power, with some sadness. It was a confirmation of the power of fashion. Jeans seemed to be a part of freedom that could be worn by truths, lies, or exchange in a world where much else was forbidden. No wonder North Korea's fashion police want to throw up on them," the woman said.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, during a TV program about gardening in the DPRK, a pair of "dad" jeans on TV presenter Alan Titchmarsh was washed out because of the "symbol of US imperialism." Not only is this piece of clothing not available in North Korea, it has been banned since the 1990s.

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