South Korean political scientist Kim Young Soo has revealed the hottest fashion trend of 2010 in North Korea to be… skinny jeans! If we’ve learned anything from the Korean peninsula conflict this past year, it’s that North Korea should never be underestimated.

For his research, Prof. Kim interviewed approximately 2,000 North Korean defectors during the year who had fled to South Korea via China. He reads this updated look as a sign “that North Korea is easing its isolation.” While skinny jeans have long been a staple in the closet of most Europeans, East Asians, and even Canadians and Australians, North Koreans have been long deprived of such vogue dressings (among other essentials).

Other possible interpretations:

• Skinny jeans are the only ones that fit a chronically malnourished population.
• The Korean Wave of pop culture has made it past the 38th Parallel.
• Kim Jong-il (or his son) has a new fetish?
• Manifestation of anti-Americanism

Your ideas?

[via Straits Times]

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