SEOUL, South Korea - The order to shaggy-haired North Korean men couldn't be clearer: Get a trim like Kim.

The reclusive communist country is waging a hair war, telling its male population to lose the long locks, cut the coiffures and mow the mane to conform to "socialist style" - no longer than two inches.

Even hair-challenged, authoritarian leader Kim Jong Il has trimmed his famous pompadour. One exception, however: Comradely comb-overs are OK for older men.

The short-hair campaign actually was launched in October, but it reached new lengths Monday when state-run Central TV began ridiculing nonconformists as unhygienic, anti-socialist fools. It comes as North Korea's dictatorship struggles to tighten its control over information, monitor its population and dictate cultural tastes.

State TV even derided violators of the order by name and address, calling them "blind followers of bourgeois lifestyle," and exposing them to jeers from other citizens.

"We cannot help questioning the cultural taste of this comrade, who is incapable of feeling ashamed of his hair style," the station said Monday, showing a man identified as Ko Gwang Hyun, whose unkempt hair covered his ears. "Can we expect a man with this disheveled mind-set to perform his duty well?"

North Koreans have never been known for mop tops, but the campaign - dubbed "Let's Trim Our Hair According to Socialist Lifestyle" - suggests that popular tastes have changed recently.

One possibility is exposure to China, where long hair is being seen more often.

The government in Pyongyang is growing increasingly wary of outside influences.

Foreign broadcasts penetrate the country through smuggled transistor radios. As North Korea's economic woes persist, more North Koreans are traveling to China to seek food - and are exposed to the rapidly spreading capitalist culture there.

Among the campaign's hairdos and don'ts: Hair must be kept no longer than two inches. The only exception is for older men, who are given an extra four-fifths of an inch to hide baldness.

The dictum claims that long hair hampers brain activity by taking oxygen away from nerves in the head.

North Korea's campaign does not mention any rules for women and gives no explanation as to why their long hair would not result in reduced brain activity.