This is the typical restaurant setting inside Pyongyang. As a general rule, the restaurants you dine at as a tourist will be empty with no other expected guests. Karaoke will always be available and murals of holy places such as Mt. Paektu (Paektusan) decorate the interiors. EarthnuthshellA rural village outside Pyongyang and other major municipalities. Earthnutshellaengmyeon noodles, a delicacy originating in Pyongyang. It’s a dish served cold with dressing and red chili paste. EarthnutshellFlowers lay at the foot of an exemplary monument of the Great Leaders at the Mansudae Art Studio, Pyongyang. Mansudae Art Studio is the only studio permitted to depict the likeness of the hereditary Kim family. EarthnuthshellThe local school bus. Children stack on top of one another for transportation to the state school. EarthnutshellThe Pyongyang Times translated into English. EarthnutshellThe southern gateway to Pyongyang denoted by the Arch of Reunification. Behind me is a controlled access six-lane highway that heads south to the Demilitarized Zone. Citizens require special permission to live, work or even enter Pyongyang. EarthnutshellAll photos of the Great Leader’s must be in a frame that’s thicker at the top, this way they are always looking down upon those in the room. It’s a legal requirement for these portraits to feature in every household and be regularly cleaned with a special cloth for official inspection by the state. EarthnutshellThis is the Pyongyang-Kaesong Motorway (Reunification Highway) providing a direct link to the DMZ. It’s a long, lonely controlled access no man’s land bypassing most rural towns and villages. It’s rough, potholed and poorly maintained but it’s still the best highway in the North Korea outside Pyongyang. There were seven military checkpoints from Pyongyang to DMZ. EarthnutshellEarly morning in Kaesong city. Propaganda speeches were loudly blasting into the streets from loudspeakers placed on buildings. There is no vehicular traffic, so the city is eerily quiet except for that melodramatic voice piercing the streets. Earthnutshell“According to the Party’s leadership, let’s work vigorously to a more prosperous country and homeland!”, “Let’s sweat more for the motherland!”, “What have I dedicated to the country?” A rare look at the North Korean manual labor industry, we were taken to the Hungnam Fertiliser Factory in Hamhung. Earthnuthshell“The Great Comrade Kim Il-Sung and Comrade Kim Jong-Il will be with us eternally.” A major ministerial building in central Pyongyang. EarthnuthsellDesolate and austere Communist Apartment blocks. EarthnuthshellMount Kumgang (Kumgangsan) is known for its exclusive scenic beauty found nowhere else in North Korea. It’s quite close to the border with South Korea on the south-east coast. EarthnuthsellThe beautiful autumn woodlands in the untouched countryside of Pujon County. EarthnutshellThis photo was taken in Sinuiju, North Korea and China can be seen across the water. Earthnutshell
