North Korea has reportedly enhanced a crackdown on clothing and hair styles ahead of the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party set to open on May 7.
 
Radio Free Asia on Sunday quoted Japanese journalist Jiro Ishimaru of Asia Press as saying that young women at marketplaces with unique hair styles or wearing jeans were caught and sent to different locations to work.
 
Ishimaru said that the North appears to be trying to tighten social order and discipline for the success of the congress, which is just a month away.
 
Another source quoted an official from the State Security Department of North Korea as saying that the reclusive state plans to intensify the crackdown until the congress, and that officials from Pyongyang attempted to interfere with signals in the areas bordering with China in order to block calls to foreign countries.