[electricblue]

I think people did assume that because from what little experience Americans have with NK, much of the customs we would consider voluntary (bowing before statues, etc) are compulsory even for western visitors. It's not much of a leap to imagine that if you're a NK and a camera is on you, not behaving the right way could be dangerous.

[EliRivers]

Without disagreeing with your argument, your particular example is flawed; on my tour (2012), a number of people declined to bow to the statues and it was fine. It's certainly true that some behaviour is unacceptable, but choosing not to bow to the statues was utterly inconsequential.

[vezzy-fnord]

It seems trivial that the rules would be somewhat relaxed when trying to emanate an image for tourists.

[EliRivers]

Seems trivial to you, maybe, but the OP did say "compulsory even for western visitors".