About two weeks ago, the government announced that the only haircut allowed would be the Dear Leader haircut favoured by Kim Jong-Un.Taking the ‘short back and sides’ to the extreme, the Dear Leader is a shaved undercut and floppy curtains.The hairstyle, popular among western-boybands in the mid-1990s and certain male stars of British reality TV-show The Only Way Is Essex, is less favoured in North Korea.According to local media, the style is more commonly associated with Chinese smugglers, rather than the nation’s leader.‘Until the mid-2000s, we called it the “Chinese smuggler haircut”,’ the Korea Times writes.‘Our leader's haircut is very particular, if you will,’ one source told Radio Free Asia. ‘It doesn't always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes.’The new hair regulation is a further trim on previous rules, which saw men forced to choose between ten different styles.Women were spoiled with a full 18 haircuts to choose from.Back in 2005, North Korean state TV launched a five part series entitled 'Let us trim our hair in accordance with Socialist lifestyle' with the aim of promoting short back and sides for its male population.At the same time, a number of reports appeared in North Korean press and radio urging tidy hairstyles and appropriate clothing.The TV show sent out teams with hidden cameras to catch 'rebel' North Koreans who were breaking the North Korean strict hairstyle code.The makers of the program went so far as to name and shame those who had the audacity to get their hair cut differently.The program even claimed there were health reasons not to grow long hair including the bizarre claim that long hair would rob the brain of energy.Men should keep their hair shorter than two inches and have it cut every 15 days.Older men have a bit more leeway - they are allowed to grow their hair up to three inches before they must make a trip to the barbers for a trim.(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az