'North Korean women can't have short hair'

SEOUL: The North Koreans, who escaped Kim Jong-un's reclusive communist regime and landed in Seoul as refugees, says women in that country cannot keep their hair short or wear tight pants and miniskirts.Kim Jun-hyuk (name changed), a man in late twenties, said all women have to keep their hair long. "Women cannot have short hair or wear tight pants and miniskirts. They can't even tie their hair."Kim escaped North Korea in 2012 after the present regime took over. He is currently studying International politics in a university here.A woman refugee in her thirties, Cho Eun-A (name changed) said women in North Korea face a tough time as they must take care of home and work at the same time. "When I grew up, I saw the hardship women experienced. They can't even go for honeymoon."Cho escaped North Korea in 2009 and stayed in China for three years before contacting the South Korean government. Her mother was jailed after she escaped. "It is a very hard life there. There is no middle class in North Korea. You are either powerful men connected with the regime or common people."But, Cho could watch South Korean movies or plays, on smuggled CDs. "We had to close our house to see such films. If government officials caught us watching such films, we were expelled to the countryside as punishment," she told TOI. Cho said she decided to escape as she saw no future.