More Illegal Photos Smuggled from North Korea (taken by Michal Huniewicz)

These statues are of the Kim’s. Taking photographs in North Korea remains a difficult and risky task, with the government officials closely watching for any straying foreign tourists. According to Radio Free Asia, it is possible to argue that North Korea has the strictest media censorship system in the world. North Korean media outlets are an important branch of the government propaganda bureaucracy. In addition, the country’s primary goal is to indoctrinate and control common people, to explain to them what they should think about the world. Its media exists to distort the picture of the world according to the ever-changing demands of the ruling elite.

Liberty In North Korea reported that the regime forces the citizens to participate in the maintenance of personality cults around the Kim leaders that have ruled the country for over 60 years. State media provides a constant series of myths about the Kims and lauds the sacrifices they supposedly make for the people. Most of the labor hours have to be spent idolizing the leaders as well.

This is what the streets of the capital city, Pyongyang, look like. This is one of the photos that North Korea wants the world to see. An interview from another defector who was able to smuggle photos from North Korea told Daily Mail that Pyongyang is the showcase of North Korea, so building exteriors are carefully maintained but when you take a look inside, the truth becomes apparent. Poverty in North Korea continues to be widespread.

In this photo, these young girls play next to crops planted near a dilapidated pink tower block. So, you might wonder what could be illegal about this innocent photo. According to Daily Mail, tourists should not take photos from the train and should not take photos of forbidden subjects, including children working in the fields.

If you think the strict travel rules and limitations only apply to foreign visitors, then you’re wrong. North Koreans can only travel within the country when they receive a permit. Michal felt the importance of one’s rights to travel whenever and wherever he wants to. In addition, North Koreans can only travel big distances by train or bus once they get a permit since the maintenance on most roads is very poor.

You are only allowed to photograph these statues if both bodies are featured in their entirety. There was an endless stream of North Koreans bringing flowers and bowing to them.” Cutting off an infamous statue (such as Kim Jong Un) in a photo is downright prohibited and if this act is not believably staged, you would think they are into some kind of anthropolatry (the worship of a human being). People who criticize or do not show proper “respect” for the regime are often punished with stiff penalties. In addition, this cult-like personality began after Kim Il-Sung took power and became prevalent after his death.

“We were intercepted by our guides, who we could not leave during the entire stay, and who’d tell us when to sleep and when to wake up.” When you’re traveling in North Korea, do not expect to be able to travel independently and be prepared to follow certain rules. Moreover, the guides need to be specially appointed by the country’s Ministry of Tourism and also need to be associated with one of the three travel services based in the capital, Pyongyang. Travelers are bound to follow the strictest of rules within the country, which include not walking around unaccompanied.

People ride bicycles and use carriages, rather than driving cars and trucks. The laidback landscapes in North Korea show several inconsistencies as to whether North Korea is actually prospering or not. Bicycles and carriages are vital for most North Koreans who do not own cars or motorcycles. In another aspect, that it has been illegal (again) for women to ride bicycles in North Korea. Kim Jung Un somehow reinstated his father’s absurd law after he lifted the ban last year.

Guards in watchtowers are positioned to prevent anyone from going astray. North Korean guard posts dot the hillsides in seemingly every direction. If you are caught escaping by North Korean soldiers, you would end up in a military confinement for a few months or years; for important defectors, death awaits… Many have already tried escaping because of poverty—hills barren of trees are good evidence—since the regime’s priority is making Korea a defense-centered economy.

“I had 15 seconds to take this picture. This shop is for the locals only, and I was kicked out of it by my guide soon after taking this photo, but he didn’t’ see me taking it,” Michal told Bored Panda.

This only shows a half-empty supermarket denoting the economic struggle of the North Korean locals. Given the secrecy of North Korea and the international sanctions imposed on the country, the locals are suffering most of the terrible consequences. The economic history of North Korea portrays slowdown, inactivity, and crises with intermittent phases of sluggish economic growth, Investopedia reported

The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge remains to be one of the last bright lights for tourists entering North Korea from Southeastern China. This is also known as the Yalu River Bridge named in 1990, China Highlights reported. It is one of the few entries into North Korea especially for foreign tourists. It was bombed during the Korean War but was repaired.

The state-sponsored tour guides are virtually watching the photographer’s every move. Unpleasant photos such as the brutalist design of these structures are, once again, strictly prohibited. But amidst the appearances of such buildings (which are totally not prevalent in the country) North Korea plunges into darkness at night showing way opposite to South Korea and China. Nonetheless, North Korea is again dominated by 50s-looking infrastructures, Art Sheep reported.

According to Euronews, the unfinished roads, cycling peasants in grinding poverty and toiling rural lifestyle clash with the image of a country striving to present a prospering superpower who can afford to invest heavily in a nuclear weapons program.

In rural parts of North Korea, miles of uninterrupted green fields can be seen. Farming remains key for survival. Aside from evidence of abject poverty, many people in the country still lack access to better technology and enough resources to pursue progress and development.

A battered white pickup truck carries North Korean soldiers along a dusty road. Again, random photos of soldiers are strictly prohibited and this unsightly view of North Korea’s countryside is entirely illegal. CNN described that one of the biggest complaints among tourists visiting North Korea is their “inability to get out and explore”. Every tour is carefully choreographed and only endorsed by the state-run Korea International Travel Company. No wonder you only find seemingly ordinary photos such as this.

Risky: A photo of North Korean soldiers, deep in conversation. As aforementioned in one of the previous slides, you can only take a photo of a soldier from the front and profile or the designated ones. However, these are even unsuspecting officers, who if aware, can delete this photo themselves. Photos from military installations are also not allowed, as Amateur Photographer reported, nor from inside the Victorious War Museum, since as they have said, “the war isn’t over yet”.

A more realistic side to the capital’s city life? Yes, that is a man answering the call of nature right by the concrete road. Given that the North Korean government wants the foreigners to take pictures of the grandeur side of the country, this is definitely on top of the what-should-be-deleted-photos criteria. Bored Panda reported that North Koreans can only travel within the country when they receive a permit. But they are not permitted to do this for sure.

One of the few entry points for foreign tourists was deserted when Michal was present. Some sources also say it is the only entry point for foreigners. Euronews reported that the North Koreans in the station were “immaculately-clad” and appear to be rushed about their business as the foreigners’ carriage pulls in.

Michal said that you have to fill in several of these before you can enter the border, Art Sheep recounted. You must have your North Korean visa issued, approved by the Party and of course, a North Korean customs declaration form. They were told that if they bring any porn into the country and they found out about it, they would show it to their travel companions to embarrass them, and then confiscate the device.

This custom declaration form reveals that it is illegal to bring laptops into the country. And, of course, Korean films, pornography, and even guide books.

North Korean workers are carrying some sort of equipment on a main road in this photo. Michal said he was prepared to see poverty but what he did not expect was the “mental strain” people had to be under. In addition, the lack of technological resources and access to these items kept them oppressed and suppressed under the Kim family’s regime. Photos that show the oppressive nature of the North Korean government are supposed to be deleted at the border.

According to the photographer, the scene was staged, as there were no other trains that day. Michael said that he may not be able to prove whether or not the scenes were fake, but many of the scenes they saw looked “highly unnatural”, Amateur Photograph reported. The citizens appeared to be playing out at Pyongyang’s main station, with elegant passengers “happily” milling around despite having no other trains for departure. There is even a waiting room that is regally-decorated but is said to be typically empty.

In the photo, there are North Koreans waiting to sell human waste to be used as fertilizer. This was one of the first things they saw—a part of a weird-looking slum, which looked like an “Oriental version of the communist-era Eastern Europe” where there are lots of socialist architecture of North Korean leaders. Aside from controlled photographs, they were also not allowed to leave their hotel rooms at night.

Street cleaners sweep pavements for dust under the keen eye of a soldier in one of the parks in the capital city, Pyongyang. Sightings of residents cleaning on squeaky clean areas were completely bizarre for the tourists considering them as “staged”. Photos such as the one above could have been deleted since a photo of a soldier’s back area is prohibited

A waitress works in a restaurant while 24/7 propaganda plays on the television. The seven people including Michal did not get to interact with the locals at all, Bored Panda stated. And most of the waitresses seemed slightly terrified of them.

Locals wait for a train to pass, providing Michal moments to snap this image of life in North Korea’s countryside.

This is one of the seemingly normal photos taken by Michal Huniewicz before smuggling a series out of the country. There’s nothing really unusual to these North Koreans traveling on a bus.

In this photo, North Korean streetwalkers go about in what seems to be their ordinary everyday life—a mother carrying her child and people crossing the street, among other things.

This photo shows North Korea’s taxis and taxi drivers. North Korea is constrained by economic problems and government restrictions. The near absence of private automobiles had been a result of fuel constraints, making road transportation a secondary necessity. Also, as aforementioned before, poor road construction and maintenance discourages most of the taxi and bus drivers. Most of the roads in North Korea are paved with dirt, crushed stone, gravel, and/or are poorly maintained.

A group of women is pictured sweeping an already spotless pathway in North Korea’s capital city. Street cleaners are found on the squeaky clean streets of the capital city where foreigners or tourists often visit. You might ask the same question, “What the heck are they cleaning?” Michal even told Next Shark, “The country is depressing. We only saw a handful of people smiling or expressing anything other than obedience. They just walk in silence from one place to another, and avoid foreigners like ourselves.”

This photo shows North Korean citizens commuting to school and work. One of the restrictions in photography in North Korea is taking pictures of unnecessary or unpleasant sightings, including a photo of a subway train. Plus, the people here might not be part of the “staged” incidences they often perform when tourists arrive. In terms of transportation problems, North Korea has a ratio of one car for every thousand people and has a severe shortage of petroleum.

This is one of the rural parts of North Korea. The second largest city, Hamhung, is made of hectares of underdeveloped land, in opposite to Pyongyang. Even the best roads can still be described as rough, potholed, and unmaintained. People living in the rural areas experience the greatest of the economic repercussions among all. They can be seen as tirelessly carrying sacks up and down unpaved roads without the right modes of transportation. Underage workers are even forced to work due to poverty.

Korea (left) contrasts China (right)

This stark difference between North Korea and China is a good way to differentiate how both countries differ in terms of governance. The Sino-Korea Friendship Bridge, however, links Dandong, China with North Korea. Trade and Contact, its border with China has been described as North Korea’s “lifeline to the outside world”. Violators put themselves at considerable danger to acquire imported products such as phones.

In actuality, particular landscapes from North Korea can be seen at Dandong, China without having the need to go through the strict processes. Most Chinese sightseers take the time to see the landscapes of the secretive state and the daily activities of people there. Sightseeing slacks during the winter season but recently, local tourism agencies say that they have been receiving few tourists lately leaving them to wonder if it has anything to do with the new round of sanctions the United Nations slapped on North Korea.

This is a photo of flats in North Korea. Firstly, this photo is taken from a train qualifying this as an illegal photo. Michal wrote in his blog, “It felt like landing on another planet, and looked like an Oriental version of Eastern Europe before 1989.” It is actually a city in Sinuiju, the city that faces Dandong, China across the international border of the Yalu River. Since this is the first place for tourists to see, it is a little bit developed than the rural areas of the country.

From this distance, you would notice three people standing tall. In actuality, they are supersized portraits of Kim Il-Sung, the Eternal President of North Korea; his son, Kim Jong-il, the Eternal Secretary of North Korea; and Kim Jong-Suk, the wife of the former. Michal asked the tour guide about the wife of the latter and the response was, “We don’t talk about her.” There’s a huge chance for an awkward silence for sure, yikes!

According to North Korea News, bikes are sometimes illegal and sometimes encouraged. It is suspected that during the 1970s and 1980s, the North Korean authorities kept Pyongyang from hordes of cyclists, since it was the city most likely to be seen by foreign visitors. But this ban did not apply outside Pyongyang, so people could smoothly cruise on their bicycles more or less undisturbed. However, the situation changed when the Pyongjin Company had a joint venture with a Chinese firm, which began to produce bicycles.

Sign read as: “(The Korean Workers’) Party is never going to forget the comrades of Rakwon (city)”.

Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) is a North Korean political party founded in 1946 in the early years of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)—the state’s primary agency of political power. The KWP controls the electoral system and draws up lists of approved candidates. The KWP continued to hold authority over mass union of various civilian groups such as farmers, youths, and workers in the country.

This building sports the former leaders’ portraits. North Korea is a country living under the watchful eyes of its great leaders—millions of portraits of them. The photo above is only a few of many portraits of the deceased former heads of the state that are mandated in every home, office, school, and public place. This is said to be a constant reminder of the Kim dynasty and their influence over the country since the DPRK was first established in 1948. Je Son-Lee, a defector who fled the country in 2011, explained that the two men are treated like gods. He said, “That’s why we have to have their portraits, in order to be with them all the time.”

An unsuspecting man stands at the railway in this photo. Foreign tourists and photographers have recently been very curious about what could possibly happen inside the famously secretive North Korea.

These three (above) photos show the countryside of North Korea. North Korea is prevalent with severe poverty, absolute censorship, and worst human rights violations in the world. Their secrecy of the locals’ daily lives amplified such speculations. There are minimal public transportation, power outages, and scarcity of food and safety standards, all of which continue to hearten outsiders to inform the people outside the borders to take action. North Korea continues to show his superiority among the world powers. However, Kim Jong-Un tries to hide any evidence of the nation’s low standards of living.

This is another large building in North Korea. Dictators seem to embody their range of emotion through architecture, Business Insider explained. The towering concrete buildings shroud the observers in their shadow, which is intensified for a country that keeps so much under wraps. A good evidence of the comedy and horror behind stories of such big-but-empty buildings is that North Korean builders are doled out with methamphetamine to “speed up” the progress of construction

This photo shows Pyongyang by day, looking bleak. More and more tourists are teased by the secrecy of North Korea’s realities. Foreign visitors are no longer dazzled or deceived by “staged” events happening around them. They continue to look for a more real subject and not statues or portraits of the leaders. The city screams in misery for most of its buildings are empty while people outside the borders of the capital city are struggling with poverty.

The Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang is harboring a secret—the 5th floor is missing from the elevator panel. While it can be accessed by stairs, it is off-limits to hotel guests. In summary, the 5th floor is a concrete bunker with locked steel doors and unsettling propaganda such as posters saying “Our General is the best”, “We miss our Father, the General”, “Military first politics”, and propagandas upholding Japanese as invaders and killers and Americans as bombers.

This is a famous landmark in the capital city. Every night, North Korea’s news bulletin begins with a song about the mythical qualities of the country’s leaders. This is already downright absurd to start with. The state media will then show a constant stream of stories about their leader’s economic guidance and benevolent care. Reminding the townspeople of the former leaders’ existence becomes transcendent due to their apparent images on billboards, buildings, television reports, and every office wall.

In the photo, women and men flock to a landmark in the capital city. In terms of gender equality, North Korea is highly patriarchal. If women visit other houses on January 1st, or if their husbands are seen in the kitchen, then these women are somehow degraded. Women, and not men, are expected to take care of everything that happens within the house.

One of the insights of a North Korean traveler in Quora stated that the main emphasis of the schools in the country is indoctrination to the regime. Lessons about the life and the greatness of the Kim family are a regular part of a school day. Rooms dedicated to the Kim family are even part of the curriculum. Most lessons are filled with ideological messages and travel lessons in English have a theme about traveling to Pyongyang. Literacy is high but the skill sets are ill-suited for the 21st century.

North Korea does not really sound like a store you would want to buy from but one of its very successful exports had been its art. North Korea would want to carry out your artistic commissions—a tapestry, a mural, a “jewel painting” or something like a giant bronze statue of a dictator or liberator close to your heart. The Mansudae Art Studio, in the heart of Pyongyang, just produced large embroidery for the Benetton fashion family but it is in Africa that Mansudae Overseas Projects (MOP) had found the strongest craving for its work.

It has been over 5 years since Kim Jong-Un became the leader of North Korea, being the 3rd generation in the Kim dynasty. Kim Jong-Il, the former leader, was chosen for his master of propaganda but was considered to be the worst of them. On the other hand, the current government’s propaganda revealed government-run websites revealing only 28. The government websites make up a majority portion of what North Korean citizens can only browse.

A big portion of Pyongyang operates an “alternative suspension of electricity supply” system. It is something like a rotating blackout—when buildings on one side of the street lose power, the other side of the street gets power. If the electricity supply is suspended, however, no heat is available. People who manage to obtain chicken or duck feathers use them to make quilts. They also don layers of underwear and shirts to retain body heat.

Western tourists are not allowed to talk to their guides too much about America; they are only allowed to stay in one hotel in Pyongyang; and they are cautioned too often of all the restrictions in taking photos of landmarks and things in the country. They are highly strict towards American tourists, which they can detain for whatever reason and the U.S. would have no diplomatic way to get them out.

According to Arch Daily, for North Korea, architecture is propaganda. It adds that the country continues to evolve and become refined for a totalitarian control of its population. You might wonder if they actually buy into the regime. Well, they actually do. Women even cry over the death of their leader, men and women have their own careers, and do other daily activities. This is a carefully constructed regime which has an unparalleled understanding of how urbanism and architecture can influence and control people.

This bridge connects Dandong, China and Sinuiju, North Korea. According to News.com.au, the bridge is a “vital lifeline for Pyongyang” and a “strategic purpose for a more powerful ally”. This is the Sino-Korean (China-North Korea) Friendship Bridge which crosses the Yalu River. It supplies around 90% of North Korea’s trade. However, experts reveal that Beijing’s reason to keep the relationship afloat is that it preferred to have an “embarrassing” Communist neighbor than to be aligned with the West.

This is another baroque-styled infrastructure in North Korea. People are seen to play sport on an unlikely place to play, linking to possibilities of a staged performance for the foreign tourists passing by. This is actually one of the original governmental ministry buildings, which takes prominent seats within the cityscape, Arch Daily added. And again, as the figure on top of the building suggests, it shows a clear sign of propaganda from the regime about their nationalist ideologies and practices.

Both leaders are seen as demi-gods, as Earth Nutshell described. Portraits of the deceased leaders are required in every house and public place around the country. Putting propaganda in magnanimous infrastructures is one prevalent method of the government to display their power and aggravate their control over the people. Music, literature, and art are other channels of propaganda that are released round the clock which have been very effective for decades.

Putting propaganda in magnanimous infrastructures is one prevalent method of the government to display their power and aggravate their control over the people. Music, literature, and art are other channels of propaganda that are released round the clock which have been very effective for decades.

These are tour guides at the reception area of the tourists’ hotel. Travelers should abide by the rules within the country, which include refraining from taking photos at certain locations and from walking around unaccompanied. Yes, going to North Korea is not your regular way of traveling. Your trips will circulate around statues and murals of the past and present leaders (over and over again), the large architectural structures (which are dominantly in one city only), and other areas that show North Korea as a prosperous country.

This shop is only open for the locals, qualifying this photo once again, as illegal. The store seems to look stuffed with goods but actually, if you put them like how stores place goods together on shelves in the West, this place would be half-empty. North Korea is actually desperate for food aid and other forms of economic assistance amidst the showmanship and threats of a nuclear war.

In the photo, a tourist puts on a costume for a photo op with the statuette of a horse. Everything in North Korea must have an embedded political message; even its entertainment forms are state-sponsored. As the world already knows, North Korea is the stage and all its people are actors. Festivities are dedicated to their late leaders, people are directed as to what to say, how to stand, and even how to sit.

Like the ancient gods, the Eternal President of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, “expects” worship, Michal said in his blog. An endless flow of people place flowers at the foot of his tomb (especially with tourists around). People who go there without flowers can be arrested by the Communists for disobeying them. Everyone living in Pyongyang has to wear a red badge, which cannot be brought anywhere else. Michal adds, “Supposedly, they may give it to you if you are obedient and do not ask stupid questions.”

About 5.3 million children below the age of 14 in North Korea learn to love the brutal history of their country from its founder, Kim Il-Sung all the way to its ruler, Kim Jong-Un, Business Insider reported. Everything that they do is often in the pursuit of promoting the country’s political will. In summary of the reports, early-aged kids living outside the capital city are made to work on the farm, and child forced labor accounts for a large portion of the country’s economic output and those who do not comply can be sent to concentration camps as punishment.

This man reads an issue of The Pyongyang Times. As of 2015, North Korea sustained its spot as one of the most repressive media environments in the world, Freedom House surveyed. It said that the state-regulated national media produce propaganda ensuring absolute loyalty to Kim Jong-Un. Since present leader took position in December 2011, access to foreign and independent media is tightly restricted. Listening to illegal foreign programs and possessing rebellious publications are deliberated “crimes against the state” that carry serious punishments.

you can follow Michal on https://twitter.com/m_huniewicz