A campaign in communist North Korea against untidy and foreign hairstyles was launched on the orders of leader Kim Jong-Il, a South Korean welfare group says.

Official media in the isolated state said last month that men should keep their hair short and women should have it tied up.

"To keep your hair tidy and simple... is a very important matter for setting the ethos of a sound lifestyle in the country," ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said at the time.

Seoul-based Good Friends, in its latest newsletter seen Wednesday, said the order came from Kim himself and was being enforced by the Central Youth Union Committee, a state body.

It quoted officials of the body as saying Kim took objection to what he saw as the foreign hairstyle of a female sales clerk.

"Is she really our own Korean woman? Why is she giving up our own traditional beauty and choosing to model bad foreign habits of the capitalist?" they quoted Kim as saying.

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