North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has apparently not ordered students to get his cut.
Recent visitors to the North said they have not seen evidence of any mass haircutting.
According to smh.com.au, a thinly sourced report said an order was passed out a few weeks ago for university students to get a haircut just like Kim.
Washington, DC-based Radio Free Asia cited unnamed sources as saying that an unwritten directive from somewhere within the ruling Workers' Party went out early this month.
However, a senior journalist in Pyongyang said he had not seen any recent changes in hairstyles among college students in the capital, Pyongyang.
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Though the forced grooming story might be untrue, it is true that the government has its own 'fashion police'.
According to the report, Choe Cheong-ha, a defector who left North Korea in 2004, said members of a government-run youth organization routinely check for people who are not dressed appropriately.
He said they look for whether people are wearing the mandatory lapel pins with the images of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
He added that the police also looks for violations such as blue jeans, clothes with English words or above-the-knee dresses.
But Choe said directives on hairstyles were not an issue, since most people voluntarily keep their hair neat and conservatively styled, the report added.
