Overview

• Local party and neighborhood leaders in Sariwon were told to identify women suspected of breast augmentation and escort them to hospitals for examinations.
• A public trial in Sariwon paraded two women in their 20s and an alleged backstreet surgeon, with imported silicone, surgical tools, and cash displayed as evidence.
• Prosecutors and a judge labeled breast augmentation “bourgeois” and “unsocialist” and warned of strict punishment for those found to have undergone or performed the procedures.
• Security services have deployed female officers in undercover stings and formed a task force following a July order to clamp down on so‑called anti‑socialist acts.
• Details are based on reporting from South Korean outlet Daily NK, and independent verification from inside North Korea remains limited.