North Korea closes karaoke bars, internet cafés

North Korea has ordered the closure of karaoke bars and intent cafés, a South Korean civic group said today, in an apparent attempt to stem outside influences inside the isolated communist country.

Separately, the North’s Ministry of People’s Security conducted house-to-house overnight inspections in areas near the border with China earlier this month to search for mobile phones and illegal videos or CDs, the Good Friends aid agency said in a newsletter.

The ministry said in a directive last week that the move was a “mopping-up operation to prevent the ideological and cultural permeation of anti-socialism”, according to the aid group.

Violators were warned they would face punishment, including deportation to another region.