North Korea has always managed to grab our attention with their controversial way of life. The country ruled by despot leader Kim Jong-un portrays itself as self-sufficient, prosperous and well-governed; but the truth is far from reality. The citizens are oppressed and forced to follow strict laws. In order to show the truth about life in North Korea, two photographers risked everything. Michał Huniewicz, a photographer and software developer based in London and Eric Lafforgue, a French photographer, visited the country in 2015. While there, they managed to evade their tour guide’s watchful eye to take these photographs; giving us a unique glimpse into North Koreans’ everyday lives.
1. Mr. Huniewicz went to North Korea from China. He arrived at Pyongyang, where he was greeted by his watchful tour guide.
Every foreigner that arrives in North Korea is assigned a tour guide – one of the conditions of being allowed a visit. The guide will stay with them at all times to monitor their activity and to stop them from traveling to restricted places. The image above shows the scene upon Mr. Huniewicz’s arrival. The neatly dressed men and women appear to be walking in a hurry as if they are late for work. The truth, however, is that these people are all part of an act. According to Mr. Huniewicz, the train he arrived on was the only train that day.
2. Street cleaners sweeping up even the tiniest speck in one of the parks in the capital city, Pyongyang.
The officials make sure that the locations visitors are allowed to travel are spotless. In the above image that was taken at one of the parks in the capital city, Pyongyang, a soldier can be seen monitoring the street cleaners to ensure perfection.
3. How Pyongyang looks like from the Yanggakdo Hotel.
The Yanggakdo Hotel accommodates all non-Chinese tourists. Located in the heart of the city, all non-Chinese people are forced to stay here. Meanwhile, Chinese citizens visiting the city have the right to choose the hotel they desire, as well as walk around the block on their own without a guide counting each of their steps.Crossing the streets are officially prohibited in Pyongyang, unless the guide allows it.
4. The terrified waitress.
Mr. Huniewicz describes his encounter with a waitress in a restaurant in North Korea. According to him, she looked terrified and spoke very little. The tourists were sent to the basement of the hotel, a small room where they all dined together. Mr. Huniewicz and other tourists that were in the same room were afraid to speak or say anything, since they were unsure as to whether the room was bugged. Also, the TV that can be seen on the left corner repeatedly plays propaganda videos.
5. Guides only tour through parts of the city that are well maintained.
The tour guides only take tourists through parts of the city where buildings are completed and appearance is maintained. Mr. Huniewicz describes that he was taken to this particular location more than once through a different route.
6. Children are also forced to do work in the city.
North Korea takes the phrase “age is just a number” literally. No matter the age, every citizen has to pay their debt in one way or another. Also, the statue on the left features a North Korean soldier stepping on an American flag.
Students are forced to work in winter also, where they must handle metal rods without gloves; which sometimes means ripping skin from one’s hands. Although they were forced into hard labor, the children would never complain, because the punishment for complaining is to stick one’s tongue to a freezing piece of metal.
7. Grocery stores that tourists are not allowed to visit shows a different perspective of life.
Kim Jong-un portrays the country as being well fed and well maintained but the above image shows an ordinary shop for North Koreans. Most of the shelves are empty and there is little to no food. According to Mr. Huniewicz,
Usually, we were accompanied by our guides, one in the front, one in the back. But at one point they were both in the front, which allowed for a literally 15-second long detour into this ordinary shop for North Koreans. That gave me maybe 10 seconds to take this, before being kicked out by a bad cop, and the atmosphere became rather unpleasant. I’m not sure if he saw me taking this picture.
8. The roads are almost empty since the locals are forbidden from owning cars.
In North Korea, only elected officials are allowed to have cars. Locals, on the other hand, have to rely on bicycles, trams or buses for transportation. Because of this law, most of Pyongyang’s roads are empty and children can be seen wandering around or playing in the middle of the streets.
9. A man uses a river to bathe in public.
Although visitors are banned from taking pictures of North Korean citizens that are not well-dressed, Mr. Huniewicz managed to capture an image that shows a man using a river as a form or refreshment. If the guides see that a visitor is capturing anything forbidden, they would immediately ask them to delete it or even take their cameras away.
10. Children collecting loose corn in the streets.
According to the UN, millions of children in North Korea suffer from malnutrition. A third of the children under the age of five show signs of stunted development due to food scarcity. They also lack basic needs, medicine and healthcare that is required for their development.
According to the North Korean law, any visitor/tourist is forbidden from taking pictures of malnourished people or poverty. The North Korean news media filters out such images and represents the country as the best in the world.
11. A view that the officials of North Korea try to hide from the rest of the world.
Although the citizens are well dressed and have to behave around most tourist destinations, there is another side that officials keep in the dark; just like the one above.
12. A minute or two after leaving the train, the visitors all squeezed into a minivan that would be their second home for the entire stay.
Upon arriving at Pyongyang, visitors are not allowed to wander from the station. They are immediately forced into a minivan, which is where they spend most of their time. Visitors are allowed to carry their smartphones with them but there will be no available reception or WiFi.
Apart from that, when the tour is over, each individual has to hand over their phone to an official who will thoroughly check them and make sure there are no pictures that portray the country in a bad way.
13. Pyongyang is meant to be a utopian showcase for foreign visitors.
The drivers of minivans are trained to slow down whenever the surroundings were impressive and speed up whenever they were less pleasant. This was done in order to eliminate the chance of any visitor getting a good shot of the real face of North Korea.
14. The fifth floor of the hotel is entirely dedicated to the surveillance of the guests.
Visitors who arrive at the hotel notice that the elevator does not have a button for the 5th floor. According to several sources, the 5th floor of the Yanggakdo Hotel is solely dedicated to monitor the guests and their activities. Now that’s not creepy at all.
15. The difference between North Korea and China becomes even more apparent at night.
The night clearly shows the difference between North Korea and China. When the Sun goes down, North Korea plunges into total darkness and Dandong, China, becomes a brilliant metropolis. The bridge shown in the picture is the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, which connects Dandong with the city of Sinuiju, North Korea.
16. Children doing their laundry in the river.
17. People waiting for their turn to get into a bus.
Since the citizens are forbidden from owning cars, they rely mostly on buses as a form of transportation. The image above shows the daily routine for North Koreans and their struggle to get to work.
18. Heartbreaking scene: A man plucking grass to suppress his hunger.
Most North Korean citizens suffer from starvation and malnutrition because of the scarcity in food. The forbidden image above was captured by Eric Lafforgue, shows a man plucking grass to feast on. Tourist guides try to keep visitors away from such scenes and ban them from taking pictures but photographer Lafforgue managed to capture this heartbreaking moment.
19. A desperate mother selling cigarettes and sweets on the side of the road to provide for her children.
20. Workers lack even the basic safety equipment required.
Although Pyongyang has two power stations, the electricity supply is in a perpetual state of emergency. Neither stations are capable of producing enough electricity to power more than one district at a time. Apart from that, the workers lack even the most basic equipment to keep them safe.
The photographs shown in the article were taken by Michal Huniewicz and Eric Lafforgue. Lafforgue was banned from ever visiting North Korea again, after the pictures were released to the public.