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North Korean Men Ordered to Get Kim Jong Un’s Haircut

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Photo Credit: Reuters; Getty Images

Photo Credit: Reuters; Getty Images

By Bob Fredericks.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — and in Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, that’s now an order!

All North Korean men are now required to get the same haircut as their nutjob leader — shaved close on the back and sides, with longer hair on top brushed back off the forehead.

The state-ordered guidelines were introduced in the capital, Pyongyang, roughly two weeks ago, according to South Korean media.

And the rule is now being enforced nationwide.

But not all of the dictator’s subjects are impressed with the strongman’s inverted bowl-style ’do.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Putin reinstitutes a Soviet-era fitness program while Kim Jong Un forces everyone to get his haircut

By Erika Johnsen.

I happened across both of these stories today out of Everybody’s Favorite Saber-Rattling Gulag State and America’s Bestest Frenemy, and I don’t even… obviously, “palate cleanser” is not the right term here. Whatever the antonym of “palate cleanser” is, this is that.

Until now, everyone in North Korea had to choose their haircuts from a list of state-approved styles. But now, all men in the hermit kingdom will be required to sport the same hairstyle as supreme leader Kim Jong Un, the BBC reports.

Pyongyang introduced the new law two weeks ago but is now rolling it out across the country. Unfortunately, some North Koreans may not be thrilled about the new look. According to a former Pyongyang resident now living in China, the Kim Jong Un cut is unpopular because it apparently resembles the style of Chinese smugglers. “Until the mid-2000s, we called it the ‘Chinese smuggler haircut,” the source told the Korea Times.

Women, however, will still be able to choose from a small variety of state-sanctioned hairstyles. So, there’s that. You’re welcome?

And over in Russia, via Charles Recknagel:

If you could turn back the hands of time, what would you wish for? For Russian President Vladimir Putin, it seems to be to return to the days of mass physical fitness. Not just of physical-education training in schools—which already exists in Russia—but of mass calisthenics in stadiums, mass parades of athletes through Moscow’s Red Square, and fluttering banners with slogans urging ‘Everyone to the Starting Line!’

Read more from this story HERE.

Dennis Rodman Claims Kim Jong-un is Trying to Change North Korea ‘in a Great Way’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon

Former American basketball star Dennis Rodman, who arrived in Pyongyang Monday on his fourth visit to the reclusive Stalinist state, said North Korea was “not bad,” and that Kim Jong-un “is actually trying to change this country in a great way.”

Rodman, who has met with Kim – purportedly a basketball fan – on two of his previous three visits, is leading a team of former NBA players who will play an exhibition game on Wednesday, Kim’s 31st birthday.

Speaking to reporters after flying in from Beijing, Rodman said the team members wanted to come to North Korea to help “open the doors.”

“Most people that come here they say, hey North Korea. It’s not – it’s not bad, you know. The marshal [Kim Jong-un] is actually trying to change this country in a great way.”

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Death by Firing Squad for Kim Jong Un’s Ex

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The ex-girlfriend of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was among a number of musicians who were executed by firing squad on August 20, according to South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.

The paper reports that Hyon Song Wol, a singer and rumored former lover of Jong Un, was arrested on August 17 along with 11 other prominent artists for violating the communist nation’s laws against pornography. Three days later, they were killed in front of their immediate families and other members of North Korea’s famous pop groups. These onlookers were then sent to prison camps due to the regime’s assumption of guilt by association, the Chosun Ilbo story claims.

“They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band as well as the families of the victims looked on,” said a Chinese source.

Read more from this story HERE.

North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un Admires Hitler, Wants Nation to Follow Nazi Model

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Kim Jong-un handed out copies of Adolph Hitler’s jailhouse memoir “Mein Kampf” at his Jan. 8 birthday party, New Focus International first reported Monday…

“Mentioning that Hitler managed to rebuild Germany in a short time following its defeat in World War I, Kim Jong-un issued an order for the Third Reich to be studied in depth and asked that practical applications be drawn from it,” a DPRK official who serves in China told the news site.

“Kim Jong-un gave a lecture to high-ranking officials, stressing that we must pursue the policy of Byungjin in terms of nuclear and economic development,” the source said. The phrase “Byungjin” refers to Kim’s policy of improving the country’s nuclear program while strengthening the economy.

Read more from this story HERE.

Dennis Rodman: I’m Going On Vacation With North Korea’s Kim (+video)

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Photo Credit: OPEN Sports

NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman plans to return to North Korea in August, CNN affiliate KXJB reported Monday.

Rodman, who recently visited the communist nation, said he plans to vacation with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“I don’t condone what he does, but he’s my friend,” Rodman told KXJB while in Fargo, North Dakota, for a promotional appearance. Rodman, who was giddy throughout the interview, insisted the North Korean leader doesn’t want war.

A spokesman for Rodman said Kim extended the offer during Rodman’s visit a few weeks ago.

Rodman and Kim sat next to each other February 28, watching an unusual basketball exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Watch video here:

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North Korean jamming of GPS shows critical system’s weakness

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Photo credit: kalleboo

U.S. and South Korean military commanders will be on the lookout for North Korean efforts to jam GPS signals as they take part in exercises on the divided peninsula this week and next.

North Korea repeatedly has jammed GPS signals in South Korea, which has “very serious implications” because U.S. and South Korean military system rely on the navigation system, said Bruce Bennett, a North Korea scholar for the California think tank Rand Corp.

The jamming also underscores the vulnerability of a satellite-based tool on which civilian systems from car navigation to air traffic control rely upon.

North Koreans have used Russian-made, truck-mounted jamming gear near the border to disrupt low-power GPS signals in large swaths of South Korea. By broadcasting powerful radio signals on the same frequencies as the satellites, the jammers drown out the GPS signals.

Mr. Bennett said the jamming has occurred three times in the past two years and has coincided with joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises.The timing strongly suggests the jamming was “an experiment … a test … to let [the North Koreans] see what effect it would have and maybe disrupt the exercises,” he said.

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North Korea preparing for ‘sacred war’ during US-South Korea exercises

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Photo credit: Retlaw Snellac

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told his troops to be vigilant during upcoming training exercises between South Korea and the United States, saying they should be ready to lead a “sacred war,” state media reported Saturday.

Kim’s comments came during a visit on Mu Island with troops who participated in the 2010 shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island, an attack that North Korea at the time said South Korea provoked by holding war games off their shared coast.

“He ordered the service persons of the detachment to be vigilant against every move of the enemy and not to miss their gold chance to deal at once deadly counter blows at the enemy, if even a single shell is dropped on the waters or in the area where the sovereignty of (North Korea) is exercised,” the state-run KCNA news agency reported.

The warning followed an announcement by the United States and South Korea that their joint “Ulchi Freedom Guardian” training exercises would begin Monday and conclude by August 31.

North Korea was informed of the dates of the exercises by the U.N. armistice commission.

Read more from this story HERE.