#1


Arirang mass game, notice the background is made with human pixels. 25,000 human pixel to make up the background image.

#2



#3



#4


Rush hour near the main railway station in of Pyongyang.

#5



#6


Temporary drink stores set up during the summer months selling Korean suju.

#7


These drink stores are very popular among the locals

#8


These are how the North Korea school uniform look like.

#9


Believe or not this photo was taken in the theme park. Everyone was in military uniform. I asked them why they were in uniform and they told me that they have just finished their shift and their whole unit had a surprise day out to the theme park to enjoy their evening organized by the government.

#10


Everyone was in uniform but one. I wonder if she had been awarded home cloth day.

#11


The interesting thing about North Korea is that you can still see their traditional clothing on the street.

#12


Another temporary street store.

#13


Or a few less temporary ones.

#14


A lady walked pass a photography studio.

#15


There aren't many cars in pyongyang but older model European cars can still be found on the street of pyongyang.

#16


Model phone can be seen use everywhere on the street of Pyongyang.

#17


Time for school!!!

#18


No matter how much the North Koreans hate Japan, afterall they still use a Japanese made Sony video recorder.

#19



#20


A young korean lady sells snaks in the train station.

#21


A local train.

[m42geo]

Thanks for the interesting insights.The most revealing thing to me is the people look 'happy'. That is a very different perspective from what we in the west are shown and told.

From a photography POV, that FA31, is a hell of a lens. Great captures with detail and 'pop'

How could you tell I used my FA31mm on some of my shots? In fact there are a few shot were shot by the FA77mm and IMO is just as good as the 31mm with less CA.

[Racer X 69]

First, allow me to compliment you on the many very nice photos you are sharing with us from your journey to North Korea. Indeed, it has the appearance of a clean and harmonious society.

One thing I notice is that many of the men wear the same pants, shirts and shoes, but the women have many varied shoes and dresses, and some even wear pants.

Another observation: I know that Asian men generally do not have much facial hair, but can grow a mustache, even some chin hair. Yet none of the men have any facial hair, they are all clean shaven. That says to me that conformity is still required, at least among the males in the North Korean society.

Let me start answering your question regarding about hop on public transportation and hire a car.

North Korea is a comminist state and all the basic are being provied by the state inculding housing, education, health services and food. Everyone supposes to be equal but I suppose there are some people are being more equal than others such as living in a better apartment or playing angry bird on their ipad (North Korean Made). They do small get a small amount of cash payment after their basic allowance for food and transport etc. They average cash the earn is around $40 USD a month from what I understand. They can use that cash to buy extra things that is not inculded in their allowance, such as buying cigarettes, extra food, snacks, cinema, blowing, buy a new set of LED TV instead of those old model given by the state. etc... Now their local currency worth nothing to us in the outside world. But for them everything is heavliy subsidised by the state as well. So for example a metro ticket would only cost $0.05 USD, pack of cigarettes $0.50 USD. Cinema ticket $0.20 USD. In order to get this bargain price you have to work for the state and everyone is an employee of the state from street cleaner and school teacher to tour guides and doctors as well as singers and TV stars, they are all goverment employees and every single person in north korea are entitle to these "wonderful" benefits.

For us as a tourist we do not get these benefit since we never pay any tax "work for the state" in north korea. This is the reason why we as tourist can are offically not allow to use their local currency since it is a subsidised currency for the korean people only. And yet North Korea has not developed a good system on rather how much they should charge the tourist for using their systems such as getting on their metro and buses. So they just let use use it for free "inculded in the tour package". But we do have to travel with our tour guides as he/she to let the ticket person know that we have paid already for the journey. When I was in the metro I was able to have a few short conversation with the locals and that wasn;t a problem to our tour guide at all.

So how did you cover the costs of meals? Was it also inclusive in the tour package? Also, if you came upon a cart with snacks or one of those temporary beverage tents, did your tour guide cover it?

I understand that if you are a journlist with a big TV camera then it could be different but for me with a pentax K5 + 31mm FA lens it wasn;t a problem.

Did anyone ask to look at your photos before you left the country?

I was in the tour so I can not rent a car there. but from what I know you can now rent a car in china to do a self drive tour in North Korea from April this year. Yes you have a lot of freedom and you can drive to villages speak to the locals if you can speak korean.

Our tour guides never try to hide anything from us. We see wealthier people as well as people without shoes in the villages and I was allow to take picture of them. Not a problem. But again I guess the image of not being allowed to take picture of bad things is because we only watch western documentaries and those journlist always asking diffcult questions to the tour guide/minder. And with a big TV camera I think yes they would only allow you to take picture of the best things only.

Some things I do not see in your pictures are gas stations where the few "private" vehicles get fuel, and markets where food and clothing are "purchased".

Do they have those things?

[m42geo]

Hi Racer,

I have to say you paid a lot of attention to detail and you are very quick to spot things.

The cost of the tour covers all the meals during our stay in north Korea 3 large bottles of bear is and 2 large bottles of water was provided with each meal. (Share between 10 people). If you would like more you can purchase with either euro or the chinese RMB. Since offically tourist do not suppose to use any local currency that makes purchasing any goods from a local store impossible however the clever way to do it is to exchange small amount of North Korean currency in China before you enter the country. And the exchange rate is extremely good I have to say. For a 4 days tour I would say exchange no more than $10 USD and that would be certainly enough the rest of the money you won't be able to exchange back to any hard currency. So keep that in mind. Since it is officially illegal to have their local currency, you do have to be careful while bringing them in from China. The boarder guards do check your bags while you enter the country. They do not check every single items but all they are looking for is if you are bringing any western propaganda materials in such as western magazine printed in korean to "brain wash" their people. (if you see what I mean). I did gave the board guard a pack of Camel cigarette and that helps a lot to speed up the process of inspection. LOL..... Once in the country just keep a low profile and you are free to spend their local money just don't be an idiot and telling everyone you are doing it while you are still in there.

Regarding about photo check before leaving the country. I was so worry about that and I was well prepared for it. I bought myself 8 16GB SD card (I shoot in RAW all the time) and try to switch them whenever I took some picture which I think they might have a problem with and hide it away. And once I got back to the hotel each evening I would download all the them to my Laptop computer as well as to 2 external hard disks as triple back ups. But to my surprise no one ever did ask me not to take any pictures anywhere even in the country side out of pyongyang and even when we leave the country they did just briefly check our bags again and that was all.

Gas stations. To be honest I only saw 2 gas stations in the country during my trip. I am not sure if those vehicles you saw on my pictures are in fact privately owned since I never seen a whole family sitting in it. Most of the time it is just the driver or perhaps another man with the driver. They do have clothes stores and what they call department stores but they are only 3 stories high the most. But the thing they sell in their did;t really interest me, they are like what people are wearing in the picture. The ladies section seems a lot bigger than the men section. From what I understand, each person has a ration card which allows them to go to the shop to pick up the ration of basic food and clothing. (that is why most men wear the same kind of clothing perhaps) After you used up all the ration then you will need to buy product with cash. Of course there are many things you are only able to buy with cash but not with the ration card since the rations are just for the basic commodities.

I would like to add a little information about mobile phones. Since January 2013 tourist are allowed to bring in their own mobile phones. But they ban all GPS enable devices. Ensure you say there is no GPS on the phone when you fill in the form while entering the country. Ensure you pre download the North korea map data on google maps before you go in since you won't be able to get any phone signals once you are in. It is super useful. Because you will more or less have some free time to wonder around and having a GPS devices with you helps a lot. You can also get the South Korean mobile signal near the boarder with South Korea and that is the best time to tag yourself on facebook there. LOL.....

[normhead]

Thanks for the photos. It's always interesting to see, p;aces like this. Also interesting how people are so forward with their propagandized view of the country. It's odd, because in many western countries, like say Brazil what you see is pictures of the poverty. I know there are a lot of people who do very well in Brazil. But you rarely see pictures of them. So what do we do, when someone goes to north Korea and doesn't send back pictures of mud huts? We want to see pictures of mud huts. What is that about? An ingrained need to see everyone else's poor but not our own? That's kind of like asking why American private industry doesn't run bus tours of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

[m42geo]

Thanks for the photos. It's always interesting to see, p;aces like this. Also interesting how people are so forward with their propagandized view of the country. It's odd, because in many western countries, like say Brazil what you see is pictures of the poverty. I know there are a lot of people who do very well in Brazil. But you rarely see pictures of them. So what do we do, when someone goes to north Korea and doesn't send back pictures of mud huts? We want to see pictures of mud huts. What is that about? An ingrained need to see everyone else's poor but not our own? That's kind of like asking why American private industry doesn't run bus tours of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

I guess most people want to believe that they are better off than others. But hey everyone have to face different type of difficulties in life. I believe back in the 90s the North Korea did had a famine and many faced hunger but people in the west including the media refuse to accept the fact that they are doing better now since when others are doing better is not an interesting news and doesn;t support the foreign policy of the powerful nations.

If north korea is not next to China but a small nation in the middle of Africa I am sure it would have a lot less media attention. Like it or not, north korea does act as a buffer zone for China with the American backed South Korea. China doesn't want a pro US nation on its door step especially North Korea being so close to the Chinese Capital of Beijing.

Too much dirty politics behind it.

[Jessesdad]

Firstly, your photos are excellent and a really refreshing look at the areas of NK you were allowed to visit. Your subway photo in particular is fantastic but many of the others are crisp, revealing and show just what a fantastic camera can do in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

As for your political assessment of NK, I can only suggest that, whatever your political views, a short, happy, tourist trip to a repressive military dictatorship with a history of putting the 'face' of its political elite before the welfare of its people is hardly going to make you sufficiently aware of the reality for people across the nation.

One can only hope that things are improving for the North Koreans but regular reports of famine and economic mismanagement outside the capital city - leading to severe malnutrition and starvation - are not hopeful. A quick visit does not qualify you to suggest that the reports from dissidents within, and those who have risked their lives to escape the deprivations of life in a society where obedience is the only route to advancement, are fantasy and that NK is simply the victim of unfair media reporting.

It's good that your pictures show another side of NK and help bring some balance to our view but you sound a lot like an apologist for the regime now, which is exactly what government sponsored tours are supposed to create. I couldn't agree more that western nations also try very hard to project certain images of their 'reality' but the ability to travel at will in those nations and speak to whoever one wishes is vastly different to being able to have a few minutes of free travel and a couple of brief conversations with locals. Not to mention the question of freedom of the press.

So, great pictures but I don't feel able to take the political commentary you have offered as informed or valid.

[GeoJerry]

Wonderful! The best photos by far I have ever seen coming out of North Korea.... hope you have some more!

[m42geo]

Firstly, your photos are excellent and a really refreshing look at the areas of NK you were allowed to visit. Your subway photo in particular is fantastic but many of the others are crisp, revealing and show just what a fantastic camera can do in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

As for your political assessment of NK, I can only suggest that, whatever your political views, a short, happy, tourist trip to a repressive military dictatorship with a history of putting the 'face' of its political elite before the welfare of its people is hardly going to make you sufficiently aware of the reality for people across the nation.

One can only hope that things are improving for the North Koreans but regular reports of famine and economic mismanagement outside the capital city - leading to severe malnutrition and starvation - are not hopeful. A quick visit does not qualify you to suggest that the reports from dissidents within, and those who have risked their lives to escape the deprivations of life in a society where obedience is the only route to advancement, are fantasy and that NK is simply the victim of unfair media reporting.

It's good that your pictures show another side of NK and help bring some balance to our view but you sound a lot like an apologist for the regime now, which is exactly what government sponsored tours are supposed to create. I couldn't agree more that western nations also try very hard to project certain images of their 'reality' but the ability to travel at will in those nations and speak to whoever one wishes is vastly different to being able to have a few minutes of free travel and a couple of brief conversations with locals. Not to mention the question of freedom of the press.

So, great pictures but I don't feel able to take the political commentary you have offered as informed or valid.

I accept that and it is very true that I had only spent 4 days in there. I only seen less than a very tiny bit of North Korea. I personally do not think that the current regime is the best for the vast majority of north korean people. I just wanted to point out that this is a country that is starting to change perhaps taking a very similar step as the chinese reform which started 30 years ago.

[m42geo]

Wonderful! The best photos by far I have ever seen coming out of North Korea.... hope you have some more!

Thanks!!! Have you seen my other post?
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/12-post-your-photos/240833-travel-north-korea-k5.html

I did take over 1000 photos during the 4 days tour but these are the ones that I think worth sharing.

[monoloco]

lol.... nah... just wanted to point out that what most westerners have a very one sided view of north korea, that is all. I love traveling alot more than politics.

Anyways I am happy that my photos had shown many people on the forum the lastest view of an isolated nation.

Truth is always the first casualty of war, and considering the fact that hostilities have never officially ended between North Korea and the US/South Korea, there is still much demonization of the enemy that occurs on both sides. Thank you for giving us a non-official glimpse of the country.

[m42geo]

Seems like some forum members would like to see some picture of the "well known prospective" of the country so I might as well share a few more here.



Sometimes you can see long lines in bus stops and most people are sitting down to wait that tell how long they have been waiting for.









This photos shows children holding some kind of tools along the railway line. Not sure what they were working on.

[Racer X 69]

This photos shows children holding some kind of tools along the railway line. Not sure what they were working on.

The railroad, of course!

[m42geo]

The railroad, of course!

That is the korean work experience program. LOL.....