This paper analyzes articles on North Korean clothing which were published in the South and North Korean press between 2010 and 2016, and seeks to provide a better understanding of overall North Korean clothing life subsequent to Kim Jong-un’s rise to power. A total of 365 articles were collected – 93 from the South Korean press and 272 from the North Korean press. Accordingly, the following five topics were extracted through analysis of the articles: appropriate dress, image politics, popular styles and consumerism, production for the average citizens’s life, and rational management. In conclusion, we argue that clothing was used to regulate North Korean citizens and to establish the political power of the Kim family. However, some of the North Korean citizens were exposed to capitalist consumerism, even though North Korea implemented a system of garment distribution which emphasized the importance of production and management of apparel.