The North Korean authorities have reportedly arrested a dance instructor and several of her students for practicing “foreign-style disco dances”.

The teacher was accused of encouraging students to copy the moves of foreign pop stars according to the report which first emerged on Radio Free Asia (RFA), but could not be independently verified.

North Korea has imposed draconian restrictions on its citizens to curb the influence of modern pop culture, banning the import of movies and music. North Koreans can be punished for watching, owning or distributing foreign media, particularly from the United States and South Korea.

The country’s authoritarian regime has stifled freedom of expression, requiring citizens to conform to conservative dress codes and hairstyles, and barring access to the global internet.

A resident of the northwest city of Pyongsong told RFA that the instructor had fallen foul of the so-called “anti-socialism inspection group,” which polices public behaviour, by teaching “foreign-style disco dances” to teenage students.

The inspectors, who fall under the remit of the state security department and the police, had been “intensively cracking down on people for watching South Korean movies and distributing foreign media,” the unnamed source said.

A USB flash drive containing foreign dance videos had allegedly been found in the instructor’s possession and was being used to help students imitate the choreography.

North Korea maintains its own form of militaristic pop culture that normally venerates the Kim dynasty.

In recent years, the Moranbong Band – an all-female group created by Kim Jong-un and dubbed the North’s answer to the “Spice Girls,” has blended totalitarian propaganda songs with covers of Frank Sinatra and other western artists, to become one of the most popular and influential local acts.