There are many reasons why I think it is fake, I am not sure where to start.
1) Do you think they really patrol in high-heels? If so, WHY????
2) It is NK army, everything should be standard issue, their pumps are different.
3) Looks like their gloves are different
3a) Can’t imagine that blues socks are standard issue
4) The insignia ( кокарда ) on the winter hat is wrong for the NK army( it is not just a red star, it should be a golden oval kind of thing)
5) Hats sit unnaturally on their heads, ESPECIALLY on the first one, it would’ve fallen off a long time ago had it not been added digitally
6) The belt on the second one is perfectly parallel to the ground, it happens when it is pulled tight, however on the picture it seems that there is some space between the uniform and the belt
And to address your bullet-proof argument abt their gait, it is quite likely actually that the heels belong on their feet, but other things don’t….:))
1. Because they think no one from the command is watching and wearing heels (especially if it’s verboten) is kinda cool. Considering how otherwise drab their existence is.
2. Obviously their pumps are not a part of the uniform but a guilty pleasure.
3. Bought on “black market”, a gift from a boyfriend.
4. Don’t know enough about this to make a comment.
5. Yeah, I thought about that hat too. Fashion statement/act of defiance perhaps?
6. Looks normal to me.
Come on, Vladimir, they’re human. Don’t you remember the “reverence” we had for “Grazhdanskaya oborona”? The discipline, not the band. They’re just normal girls who want to look good under the circumstances.
Listen, I only served in the Soviet Army, not in the NK, so I can’t claim to know exactly how it works in NK, but I believe it is similar enough. The discipline was tight where the weapons where available, because the spot check were frequent, so everybody was dressed по уставу. The way it is pictured, this has to be change of guard с двумя разводящими, at least one of whom is always of higher rank. So, the assumption here is that all of them take a TREMENDOUS risk (labor camp anyone? – breaking verboten there equals arbeit mach frei, not a slap on the wrist from your GO teacher, this is real life sh..t, the entire country is ruled with an iron fist, doubly and triply so the army) to parade in front of each other? Because I can guarantee you, even if females are allowed in patrols ( which I doubt very much by the way ) their units are separate from the male’s units…
And the hat thing as a fashion statement: it may not be cold on that particular day, but the winters there could be brutal, she can’t afford to wear a hat that will not cover her ears and, again, I didn’t know a single private who was allowed two hats…
I’m sure they can assess the danger in better ways than we can. I still think those shoes are more likely a result of some lax rules/holiday/lunchbreak rather than a doctored photograph.
Makes no sense to me whatsoever. And I still didn’t manage to find a single pic of a hat with the red star among real pictures, they all have golden oval with a small star embedded…I doubt will ever know for sure.
There are at least 1 or 2 per page that show the star without the background gold. These images can be enlarged twice for more detail. Note in particular the image of the firing line in the LR on page 5. The shoes on the foreground woman look the same as the tied flats on the second girl while the shoes on the background woman look different. Both appear to have white socks.
While I note the hat on the first girl does look Photoshopped, the others do not. It would take a very sloppy Photoshop job to leave one looking that way and the others not.
I think the variation may be in poor funding of particular units, the time and place they were taken, and perhaps, as bearing light has said, an attempt to be unique in a dismal sea of homogenous mediocrity.
Thanks, David. Yep, the red star is there but it seems that those are older uniforms and are never on this kind of a hat.
Like I said, anything is possible. I judge from the experience of serving in the Army that was used as a model for DPRK’s army( right down to the uniforms) and under the regime that was a model for their regime and I can tell you this: this would never fly in the USSR’s army unit. And another thing, I wore precisely this hat for over a year and the way it’s perched on the first woman’s head, it would never hold for more than a few steps…
I guess we spent enough time on this important subject now, eh? …:)
If the image is genuine, the hat could be pinned to her hair…
The same is true for the Armed Forces in this country. The only time I saw this much variation in military dress was at remote stations in a combat zone.
Hint: shoes.
Left with Balls 
Cute pic…Fake..:)
You think? It’s all over Reuters.
Confident enough to bet that it was doctored in one or multiple ways.
I think it’s genuine. If they were walking in flats their gait would be different. Thus just adding heels would look fake.
There are many reasons why I think it is fake, I am not sure where to start.
1) Do you think they really patrol in high-heels? If so, WHY????
2) It is NK army, everything should be standard issue, their pumps are different.
3) Looks like their gloves are different
3a) Can’t imagine that blues socks are standard issue
4) The insignia ( кокарда ) on the winter hat is wrong for the NK army( it is not just a red star, it should be a golden oval kind of thing)
5) Hats sit unnaturally on their heads, ESPECIALLY on the first one, it would’ve fallen off a long time ago had it not been added digitally
6) The belt on the second one is perfectly parallel to the ground, it happens when it is pulled tight, however on the picture it seems that there is some space between the uniform and the belt
And to address your bullet-proof argument abt their gait, it is quite likely actually that the heels belong on their feet, but other things don’t….:))
1. Because they think no one from the command is watching and wearing heels (especially if it’s verboten) is kinda cool. Considering how otherwise drab their existence is.
2. Obviously their pumps are not a part of the uniform but a guilty pleasure.
3. Bought on “black market”, a gift from a boyfriend.
4. Don’t know enough about this to make a comment.
5. Yeah, I thought about that hat too. Fashion statement/act of defiance perhaps?
6. Looks normal to me.
Come on, Vladimir, they’re human. Don’t you remember the “reverence” we had for “Grazhdanskaya oborona”? The discipline, not the band. They’re just normal girls who want to look good under the circumstances.
Listen, I only served in the Soviet Army, not in the NK, so I can’t claim to know exactly how it works in NK, but I believe it is similar enough. The discipline was tight where the weapons where available, because the spot check were frequent, so everybody was dressed по уставу. The way it is pictured, this has to be change of guard с двумя разводящими, at least one of whom is always of higher rank. So, the assumption here is that all of them take a TREMENDOUS risk (labor camp anyone? – breaking verboten there equals arbeit mach frei, not a slap on the wrist from your GO teacher, this is real life sh..t, the entire country is ruled with an iron fist, doubly and triply so the army) to parade in front of each other? Because I can guarantee you, even if females are allowed in patrols ( which I doubt very much by the way ) their units are separate from the male’s units…
And the hat thing as a fashion statement: it may not be cold on that particular day, but the winters there could be brutal, she can’t afford to wear a hat that will not cover her ears and, again, I didn’t know a single private who was allowed two hats…
I’m sure they can assess the danger in better ways than we can. I still think those shoes are more likely a result of some lax rules/holiday/lunchbreak rather than a doctored photograph.
Makes no sense to me whatsoever. And I still didn’t manage to find a single pic of a hat with the red star among real pictures, they all have golden oval with a small star embedded…I doubt will ever know for sure.
Although 90% of the photos I’ve found do have the gold background, the other 10% only have the red star, for both men and women.
Go here to see men:
http://www.armyrecognition.com/north_korea_korean_army_ranks_combat_uniforms_uk_f/north_korea_korean_army_ranks_military_soldier_combat_field_uniforms_dress_grades_uniformes_combat.html
Note the 1st and 3rd images at the bottom of the page.
And here for women:
http://www.miliwoman.com/North.Korea/Army
There are at least 1 or 2 per page that show the star without the background gold. These images can be enlarged twice for more detail. Note in particular the image of the firing line in the LR on page 5. The shoes on the foreground woman look the same as the tied flats on the second girl while the shoes on the background woman look different. Both appear to have white socks.
While I note the hat on the first girl does look Photoshopped, the others do not. It would take a very sloppy Photoshop job to leave one looking that way and the others not.
I think the variation may be in poor funding of particular units, the time and place they were taken, and perhaps, as bearing light has said, an attempt to be unique in a dismal sea of homogenous mediocrity.
Wow, thank you David. Very informative.
Thanks, David. Yep, the red star is there but it seems that those are older uniforms and are never on this kind of a hat.
Like I said, anything is possible. I judge from the experience of serving in the Army that was used as a model for DPRK’s army( right down to the uniforms) and under the regime that was a model for their regime and I can tell you this: this would never fly in the USSR’s army unit. And another thing, I wore precisely this hat for over a year and the way it’s perched on the first woman’s head, it would never hold for more than a few steps…
I guess we spent enough time on this important subject now, eh? …:)
If the image is genuine, the hat could be pinned to her hair…
The same is true for the Armed Forces in this country. The only time I saw this much variation in military dress was at remote stations in a combat zone.
As you said, enough time…