2024-03-30 14:08:54
North Korea’s state television channel KCTV aired an episode of Garden Secrets, hosted by renowned British television veteran Alan Titchmarsh. However, TV crews changed the scene, blurring out the part where he wore jeans, as part of censorship of foreign fashion and culture.
CNN reports this.
It is noteworthy that this series originally aired on the BBC in 2010. In a commentary on this occasion, Titchmarsh himself said humorously that censorship had helped him gain “street cred.”
“I’ve never considered myself a dangerous subversive imperialist. I’m usually seen as quite calm and harmless, so that actually gave me a bit of street cred, didn’t it?” he noted.
Nam Soon-wook, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul, said the actions showed North Korea’s strict adherence to the recently passed law on the rejection of foreign ideology and culture.
This law aims to prohibit the imitation of foreign models in various aspects, including dress and speech. In this regard, jeans, as a symbol of American imperialism, were prohibited for residents of the country. However, there is some flexibility with regard to foreign guests, as they cannot be prohibited from wearing jeans.
Kursor also reported that the DPRK severely punished teenagers for watching the film.