North Korea bans leather coats to stop citizens emulating Kim's fashion

Pyongyang: North Korea has imposed a ban on leather trench coats to stop citizens from copying their Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's fashion style. 

North Korean authorities have been directing people to stop wearing discount leather jackets that look like the high-end coats that Kim Jong Un has been photographed wearing.

Reports quoting sources said that country’s government also dispatched fashion police officers to patrol the streets and confiscate faux leather jackets from sellers and residents, in a bid to put a stop to the cheap imitations and the wearers.

Police officials have reportedly told shopkeepers that wearing trench coats amounts to an "impure trend to challenge the authority of the Highest Dignity’.

Earlier, the North Korean leader has also been the subject of rumors claiming he has fallen ill as he has not been seen in a month. His absence from public activities also fueled previous rumors claiming the North Korean leader underwent heart surgery.

Kim is expected to make a public appearance on December 17 to commemorate his father’s 10th death anniversary. 

In the meantime, young men protested, saying they bought the coats with their own money and there is no reason to take them away.

However, the authorities and the police have recently started to confiscate trench coats from the sellers and from the people wearing them in public places.

Leather jackets, as opposed to full-length trench coats, have actually been worn in North Korea since the early 2000s. This led to almost every North Korean marketplace selling them and young men could be seen sporting faux leather trench coats.

Leather coats in North Korea are prohibitively expensive. Real leather trench coats are sold at 170,000 won (RM604), while those made from fake leathers are sold at about 80,000 won (RM284).