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Fascinating North Korea Photos Take You on Rare Tour of the ‘Hermit Kingdom’

Dec. 21, 2012 8:40pm Jason Howerton

Editor’s note: The following post is by AP’s David Guttenfelder

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Fascinating North Korea AP Photos Take You on Rare Tour of the Hermit Kingdom

In this April 15, 2012 photo, North Koreans rest under portraits of the late leaders, Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, at the end of a mass military parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — My window on North Korea is sometimes, quite literally, a window – of a hotel room, the backseat of a car, a train. Fleeting moments of daily life present themselves suddenly, and they are opportunities to show a side of the country that is entirely at odds with the official portrait of marching troops and tightly coordinated pomp that the Pyongyang leadership presents to the world.

In April, I was part of a group of international journalists that traveled by train to the launch site for this year’s first, failed rocket test. We traveled in a spotless train used by the communist leadership, and I spent the five-hour journey inside my sleeper car looking out the large, clean window at a rural landscape seen by few foreign eyes. The tracks cut across fields where large groups of farmers were at work in clusters. Occasionally, there was a plow drawn by oxen or a brick-red tractor rolling along the gravel roads. On a rocky hilltop above the train tracks, a small boy sprinted and waved at the passing train. Every few hundred yards along the entire route, local officials in drab coats stood guard, their backs to the tracks, until its cargo of foreign reporters had safely passed.

I have made 17 trips into North Korea since 2000, including six since The Associated Press bureau in Pyongyang opened in January 2012. It is an endlessly fascinating and visually surreal place, but it is also one of the hardest countries I have ever photographed. As one of the few international photographers with regular access to the country, I consider it a huge responsibility to show life there as accurately as I can.

That can be a big challenge. Foreigners are almost always accompanied by a government guide – a “minder” in journalistic parlance – who helps facilitate our coverage requests but also monitors nearly everything we do. Despite the official oversight, we try to see and do as much as we can, push the limits, dig as deeply as possible, give an honest view of what we are able to see. Over time, there have been more and more opportunities to leave the showplace capital, Pyongyang, and mingle with the people. But they are usually wary of foreigners and aware that they too are being watched.

In this April 8, 2012 photo, North Korean soldiers stand guard in front of the country’s Unha-3 rocket at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. The Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite was launched on April 13, 2012 but failed to reach orbit. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 15, 2012 photo, North Korean rockets roll past flower waving civilians and a soldier standing at attention during a mass military parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 14, 2012, photo, North Korean military members chat as they line up at a stadium in Pyongyang during a mass meeting called by the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling party. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 8, 2012 photo, North Koreans walk under a highway bridge on the outskirts of Pyongyang. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 8, 2012 photo, a North Korean boy runs on a hilltop in the countryside in North Korea’s North Phyongan Province. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 18, 2012 photo, a North Korean family picnics in the grass at a hilltop park overlooking Pyongyang. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Aug. 8, 2012 photo, North Koreans gather under a diving board platform to watch as fellow swimmers hesitate to try a dive at a newly opened swimming pool in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Sept. 10, 2012 photo, North Korean commuters move in and out of a train on a subway platform at the metro station in Pyongyang. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 17, 2012 photo, North Korean commuters ride on a trolley car in central Pyongyang. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Aug. 13, 2012 photo, North Koreans try to move a truck, retrofitted to run on a barrel of burning wood, in a riverbed near Ungok, North Korea, during operations to aid victims of heavy flooding. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

This has been a historic year for North Korea, with large-scale dramatic displays to mark important milestones, struggles with food shortages, crippling floods, drought and typhoons, as well as growing evidence that people’s lives are changing in small but significant ways. But in a country that carefully choreographs what it shows to the outside world, separating what is real from what is part of the show is often very difficult.

Last spring, as North Korea was preparing for the 100th birthday of its late founder, Kim Il Sung, citizens practiced for weeks, even months, for the large-scale military parade and public folk dancing that was part of the celebration.

One morning, on our way through town, we saw small groups of performers walking home from an early rehearsal. They wore their brightly colored traditional clothing, but covered over with warm winter coats. In their hands were the red bunches of artificial flowers that they shake and wave in honor of country’s leaders during mass rallies.

From the van window, I saw a woman standing alone, holding her bouquet as she waited for the bus. It was, to me, a more telling moment than the actual events we would cover a week later, a simple but provocative glimpse into one person’s life.

For this project, I used a Hasselblad XPAN, a panoramic-view film camera that is no longer manufactured. Throughout the year, I wore it around my neck and shot several dozen rolls of color negative film in between my normal coverage of news and daily life with my AP-issued digital cameras.

The XPAN is quiet, discrete, manual and simple. Because it has a wide panoramic format, it literally gives me a different view of North Korea. The film also reflects how I feel when I’m in North Korea, wandering among the muted or gritty colors, and the fashions and styles that often seem to come from a past generation.

In this April 14, 2012, photo, North Korean military members applaud the country’s leaders, including Kim Jong Un, from their seats on the field of a stadium in Pyongyang during a mass meeting called by North Korea’s ruling party. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Feb. 16, 2012 photo, North Korean soldiers march and carry a portrait of Kim Jong Il during a military parade at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang commemorating what would have been the late North Korean leader’s 70th birthday. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Sept. 12, 2012 photo, ears of field corn lay in piles along a roadside during the autumn corn harvest on a farm on the edge of Kaesong, North Korea. It was a tough year for North Korea’s farmers, who grappled with an extended dry spell in the spring, followed by heavy rains from a series of summer storms and typhoon. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 3, 2012 photo, North Korean students practice playing the accordions at the Samjiyon Schoolchildrens’ Palace in Samjiyon, North Korea. The facility was built for children to take part in after school programs in the arts, sciences, sports, computer and vocational training. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Aug. 11, 2012 photo, a North Korean plays badminton at Majon Beach near Hamhung, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Sept. 10, 2012 photo, a woman enters the front doors of the Grand People’s Study House where a statue of the late leader Kim Il Sung stands in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this Aptil 10, 2012, photo, apple tree saplings stand in rows beneath workers’ housing on a hill at a communal apple farm on the outskirts of Pyongyang. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In this April 15, 2012 photo, North Koreans gather along the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang to watch a fireworks display to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

In my photography, I try to maintain a personal point of view, a critical eye, and shoot with a style that I think of as sometimes-whimsical and sometimes-melancholy. My aim is to open a window for the world on a place that is widely misunderstood and that would otherwise rarely be seen by outsiders.

I hope these images help people to develop their own understanding of the country, one that goes beyond the point-counterpoint presented by Pyongyang and Washington. And maybe they can help create some sort of bridge between the people of North Korea and the rest of the world.

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Comments (78)

victord
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 1:39pm
This is the world the Liberals want for the U.S. The majority voted for this type of Government. Enjoy!

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- muffythetuffy
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 9:42pm
  NORTH KOREA LOOKS WONDERFUL
  
  I would love to move there to live. The people are so friendly and everyone gets along well. It is a Paradise on Earth. They have wonderful swimming pools and places were people can march together. Yes, I am selling my home and moving there real soon.
  
  Report this comment
- Techcon
  Posted on December 23, 2012 at 4:22pm
  “…that carefully choreographs what it shows to the outside world, separating what is real from what is part of the show is often very difficult.”
  
  Just like a Michael Moore film!
  
  Report this comment
smokey888x2
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 12:59pm
Their god is their government ….. I bet their all democrats. This is ‘progressive’ and FORWARD.

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- New.World.Fastfood.Order
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 2:38pm
  they’re*
  
  Report this comment
- burnteye86
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 4:50pm
  @NEW. The word “they’re” is not a complete sentence. What the hell are you even talking about?
  
  Report this comment
- Justthefactsmam
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 6:51pm
  @burnteye I think he was trying to correct the grammar of Smokey, but unfortunately for New, “their” is the proper grammar.
  
  Report this comment
- Hillbillybone
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 8:32pm
  They are unarmed and thus enslaved to do whatever the armed government tells them to do…..
  
  Report this comment
- TucsonTerpFan
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 10:12pm
  Yes, he was fixing “their” to “they’re” = They are.
  And, “They’re” is a sentence as it contains a subject, pronoun – “they” and a verb – “are.” So, “they are” is a complete sentence. It has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.
  As for North Korea, those people are stuck “there.” They’re stuck!
  
  Report this comment
- dangerbase
  Posted on December 23, 2012 at 8:02am
  there
  
  Report this comment
- cosmo101
  Posted on December 24, 2012 at 5:37pm
  They don’t show the picture I saw years ago of a very small starving child staring into a restaurant outdoor patio at people eating and enjoying completely oblivious of the child.
  
  Report this comment
RestoreCapitalism
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 12:28pm
This is why the UN wants to control the internet, so people will not know anything about what goes on outside their lands. They will tell them whatever they want them to believe.

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- pdw
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 1:04pm
  They learned from Hitler the master killer and control freak.
  
  Report this comment
- AlaskaBob
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 2:47pm
  Stalin makes Hitler a piker. True, Hilter’s start of WWII resulted in millions dead, but in the purges and gulags Stalin murdered far more than within the Third Reich, including the Holocaust. Hilter’s evil was showcased to the world, Stalin’s was just an “internal matter”.
  
  Report this comment
LukeAppling
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 11:14am
Like many socialist societies they don’t know what they don’t know. The North Koreans may be the most ignorant people in the world never having known any history other than what the “dear leader” has given them. Dear Leader tells them about his golfing where he had 15 holes in one, or other fictitious feats from him that would be mocked anywhere but North Korea where they know so little even of North Korea. North Koreans live in fear of everything and are told South Korea is terrible and the people starve……..Marxism is horrible everywhere even a small dose as Obama wants us to have.

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- bennyfranklin
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 12:21pm
  true. only folks more ignorant are tea baggers.
  
  Report this comment
- 666Sucks
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 12:34pm
  @Benny whatever, the best thing about Obama and your Marxist bull crap is that you entitlement whores will be the first to perish when he goes into full communist overdrive and other people’s money runs out, because their will be no one left to feed your tired miserable lazy assssssss!!!
  
  Report this comment
CaliforniaScreaming
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 10:30am
Look at all those great big smiles – ah, paradise….

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- Scaz
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 11:15am
  Obviously some of these pictures are staged, but the people don’t look like they’re staving like we always hear they are.
  
  Report this comment
- jman-6
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 3:34pm
  scaz- that’s because all the gubment employees live in Pyongyang and they’re the only ones with money!! All communist countries only show their cities as this is where all the bureaucrats live!
  
  Report this comment
- muffythetuffy
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 10:15pm
  These are not staged photo shots, they are real. You just do not recognized Paradise on Earth when you see it.
  
  Report this comment
MainMan
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 10:17am
If Chris Mathews sees this he will nut on his tingly leg..his and obamas dream country.

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Anadara
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 9:06am
I think that the liberal left believes that this dystopia is thier Nirvana.

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piper60
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 9:04am
This is what our country will look like if Agenda 21.

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mapgirl10
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 8:44am
What struck me the most was the austere looking living conditions. I see only one smiling face in the crowd. Herded into military settings like lambs to the slaughter. How would freedom feel to these people. Probably frightening to not have a gun to your living conditions.

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breakobamanow
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 8:43am
Psalm 9:9
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
Psalm 10:17-18
Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.
Psalm 103:6
The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
Isaiah 38:14
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
Ezekiel 18:11-13
And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife,
Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,
Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
Ezekiel 18:18
As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Luke 21:22
For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fu

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hugo65hsv
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 8:41am
I didn’t see Jane Fonda ??

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RIGHT_WHERE_IT_HURTS
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 8:02am
OMG…an Accordian chorus. They’re spinning at a different speed alright.

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bread and circuses
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 7:17am
I am OFFENDED by TheBlaze’s headline calling it “the hermit kingdom”, it is NOT a kingdom, it’s an Oppressive DICTATORSHIP !!!

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RIGHT_WHERE_IT_HURTS
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 7:16am
I have some photos of a clogged sewer pipe. Anybody care to see them?

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TelepromoterNChief
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 4:59am
Remember folks, Glen Beck debunked FEMA camps…..my @$$.

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TurboCat
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 4:20am
The cruelty of the gulags is heartbreaking. Even the citizens not in the gulags are still trapped there in that awful country. That’s why I have no patience for some of the malcontents and ingrates we see here in the occupy mobs and other similar stuff. Go spend a month in a North Korean gulag and THEN come back here with your attitude adjusted.

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- December22
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 6:27am
  It is amazing that in today’s world the leaders of North Korea have been able to black out their population to the point that they think the rest of the world is in worst shape than they are.
  
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motherboard
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 2:07am
Who cares about NK? Do we not have our own problems to deal with now???

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loltheblaze
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 2:00am
If ever there was proof that Bloomberg is attempting to create his own little NK, this is it. Do you see a single fatbody in this entire country? (besides the dear leader, of course)

No you don’t, because they aren’t allowed to drink more than 16 ounces of ANYTHING. Ever.

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phrogdriver
Posted on December 22, 2012 at 12:57am
It used to be when we thought of the colors green and red we thought of Christmas.

Now we think of Obama.

And NorK.

Merry Christmas, y’all. We’re screwed, but we may as well enjoy it while we can.

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ChiefGeorge
Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:43pm
I feel our children will soon know what it feels like to be a NK!

This is what a Nimrod NWO run kingdom would look like. If the NWO gets is way, then all the peoples o the globe will fall uder strict government mandates that will curtail our current standard of living to look more like the lean and mean NK peoples.

Its like having a window from a heavenly place looking on a people who have no idea what its like to live everyday in normal comforts, running water, flushing tiolets, constant electrical availability, modern transportation for the individual etc.

I’ve always felt bad for these folks! I hope one day we will come into the kingdom of heaven and find each other there…finally free and happy beyond measure.

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- MIBUGNU2
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 10:46pm
  O’Blamer has already taken us back to the 50′s in four years.
  another four, we should look like North Korea….put 53% of us
  in FEMA Camps, and he’ll be doing the Kim Jong Ill wave…….
  
  Report this comment
- SUNTZU
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 10:52pm
  Merry Christmas
  To All of good will.
  
  Report this comment
sbenard
Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:35pm
I recommend the book “Escape From Camp 14″, published earlier this year. It is the true story of the only person to have ever escaped from North Korea that was born in one of its prison camps. I borrowed it from the local library. It is a startling look inside North Korea, the world’s largest prison camp.

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- Michael
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:44pm
  Read it as well. Hard to believe that this kind of barbarity still occurs in this day in age. Highly recommended, and gives insight to hopes of the Democrat Party.
  
  Report this comment
sbenard
Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:30pm
First there was Kim Jong Il.
Then we got Kim Jong Un.
Now we have Kim Jong Obama, the Dictator of Debt!

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- commies.in.the.wire
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:59pm
  Obama’s totalitarian dream….Fundamentally CHANGE america and repair the unfairness of the last 235 plus years…ENSLAVE them all.
  
  Report this comment
- MIBUGNU2
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 10:35pm
  Bama’s green folks and GM will be working on this..
  known a BamaTech…
  
  Report this comment
gyro
Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:01pm
I want to know a lot more about *** a truck, retrofitted to run on a barrel of burning wood ***
You just never know when people in north america will need this tec !

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- Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:22pm
  Especially as we approach the same state under Obama.
  
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- DZ-015
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:29pm
  This was done in Germany during World War II due to critical petroleum shortages. Gas is created by heating wood chips in a closed container to create a gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide which will power a gasoline engine with minimal modifications. The process is known as pyrolysis, and the incompletely burned wood becomes charcoal. Of course, the wood gas is highly toxic if it gets out before going through the combustion process in an engine, so it is generally not stored, but fed directly into the intake manifold of the vehicle which carries or tows the generating unit.
  
  Report this comment
- gyro
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:32pm
  Yes Snowleopard get your living under a bridge box ready
  Obama is coming to town !! Oops sorry thats Santa !
  Cant believe I disrespected santa by mixing him up with Obama
  :)
  
  Report this comment
- gyro
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:34pm
  DZ-015 your my hero !!!!!!!!!
  
  Report this comment
- MIBUGNU2
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 11:09pm
  @ GYRO
  Bama’s green folks and GM will be working on this..
  known a BamaTech…
  
  Report this comment
- housetops
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 12:26pm
  The family on Independance USA made one.
  
  Report this comment
John 1776
Posted on December 21, 2012 at 8:58pm
Ah yes, a glance at Amerika in 2020 if the progressives get everything they want.

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- NeoFan
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:11pm
  It is very equal looking. Well except for the dictators.
  
  Report this comment
- VanceUppercut
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 2:35pm
  Grow a brain.
  
  Report this comment
DougHuffman
Posted on December 21, 2012 at 8:51pm
Fantasy photos for Obama, virtual pornography, foreplay for Manchelle.

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- gyro
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 9:04pm
  Be nice its xmas season !!!
  
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- MIBUGNU2
  Posted on December 21, 2012 at 11:05pm
  Yes, Merry Christmas ALL…
  
  Report this comment
- DougHuffman
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 7:21am
  Irony so deep … “xmas season ! ! !”
  
  I was being nice. Were I to be not nice would attract the DHS Blueshirts, and discretion is the better part of valor.
  
  Shalom Aleichem
  
  Report this comment
- VanceUppercut
  Posted on December 22, 2012 at 2:32pm
  @DougHuffman
  
  Laura Bush killed a dude. True story.
  
  Report this comment
- Wigglypoff
  Posted on December 23, 2012 at 5:41pm
  So she killed a dude(um what, how, where, when(lol)); Obama is killing a nation.
  
  Report this comment

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