Mick Hartley

Breast augmentation in North Korea? Apparently so.

The Ministry of Social Security recently ordered an emergency crackdown after medical complications from illegal breast augmentation surgeries in Pyongyang began surging.

“Medical complications from cosmetic surgeries by private practitioners have spiked as demand among women for breast augmentation procedures skyrockets,” a Daily NK source in Pyongyang said recently. “The Ministry of Social Security issued an emergency crackdown order to its Pyongyang branch on the morning of July 13.”

According to the source, the ministry’s order criticized women for “engaging in all sorts of decadent behavior” under bourgeois influence within the socialist system. While authorities had previously overlooked women getting double eyelid surgery or eyebrow tattoos, the order stated that “thoroughly rotten capitalist acts” like breast enlargements were now becoming commonplace.

Breast augmentations have grown trendy among women in their 20s and 30s seeking more voluptuous figures, particularly those in Pyongyang’s upscale central neighborhoods like Jung and Potonggang districts, the source said….

However, since authorities consider breast augmentations non-socialist behavior, women cannot receive them at official medical institutions.

As a result, surgeons secretly perform illegal procedures in their homes using silicone imported from China. This creates serious problems, as such procedures carry high risks of complications like infections….

Taking the rising number of illegal breast augmentations and medical complications seriously, the Ministry of Social Security issued its emergency order. Pyongyang police have organized strike teams to conduct intensive crackdowns through the end of September, aiming to “eradicate non-socialist behavior.”

City police issued detailed crackdown instructions. First, officers will infiltrate places performing illegal medical procedures by posing as women seeking breast augmentations. Second, officers will patrol with neighborhood watch unit heads, stopping women with enlarged breasts and taking them to police stations or hospitals for questioning and physical examinations.

Police taking any woman they think might have large breasts off the streets and down to the station for a closer inspection. No, I can't see any problems there.

“Strike teams in civilian clothes are already active in Pyongyang’s central districts, where they’ve begun their crackdown,” the source said. “Women and private doctors could face forced labor or other criminal punishments for engaging in non-socialist behavior.”