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I Took And Smuggled These Out Of North Korea – Illegal Photos Kim Doesn’t Want You To See
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I visited North Korea and took these photos, most of them illegal, so you could get a more candid look into the most mysterious country on the planet.
I was told I would be detained in case photos like these were found (“You took many photos. Too many,” – said my guide), but I managed to smuggle them out of the country, which was very stressful.
Authority – military is present everywhere in Pyongyang
The difference between North Korea (left) and China (right) is staggering
And it becomes even more apparent at night
You have several of these to fill in on your way in
First photo I took in North Korea. Photography from this train is illegal
People waiting to sell human waste to be used as fertiliser
“(The Korean Workers’) Party is never going to forget the comrades of Rakwon [city]”
North Koreans can only travel within the country when they receive a permit
North Korean soldiers
Dignity
Arrival in Pyongyang. I believe this was staged, as there were no other trains that day, so those elegant looking travellers had no reason to be there
Pyongyang – 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
North Korean street photography
Brutalist architecture of Pyongyang
Cityscape from the Yanggakdo hotel
The hotel officially has no floor 5, and you can only reach it by stairs
The door is almost always closed, but if you manage to get in, the place is full of propaganda posters, and people speculate it’s used for spying on the guests.
We did not get to interact with the locals almost at all. Most waitresses seemed slightly terrified of us
Kim Il-Sung’s square. This is one of the places they want you to photograph
Those allowed to live in Pyongyang are privileged, and wear a badge that is impossible to buy (you can get a fake one in China)
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
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
Some of the souvenirs you can buy
The city is clear of rubbish
There was hardly any traffic, but they took our passports away and forbid us to go anywhere on our own in case we participate in a car accident…
Workers
The city was clean and elegant, but then I saw this
Socialist murals
Finally, people commuting to work
Thanks for watching, two more sets of photos are coming soon!
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And now a poor guide sent into a prison camp along with his whole family for letting his turist taking illegal pictures.
agree. terribly selfish
And now you speculate with zero evidence in hopes of getting up-votes. Terribly selfish.
The difference between your opinion and the first guys' is that he comes from a country which actually knows how communism works.
Yes, also the woman with the child will have problems, the guy in the last photo, everybody from the train, the border officer that has left him to pass the border, the pilot and the crew of the plane, etc. Meanwhile, let's wait for the "Supreme Leader" Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman to publish some "real" photos from Korea.
Yeah on second thought do we really need these pictures to feel good about ourselves.
Don't be ridiculous. He didn't give the name of his guide and nobody will remember who took care of which tourist. He is safe.
He may have not given out the name of the guide but he did not blur out faces in the photographs. Everyone of those people in those pictures are witnesses.And if North Korea has mass surveillance then they can pinpoint who the guide is just by figuring out when those people where there at those locations vs what tour guide was on duty at the time.
did u not see the form they have to fill out when they arrive in North Korea? don't be so Naive lol.
Just what I thought the second I saw the title. Prison camp is the least of it.
How are they to know which guide to put in a camp ??
Yes. But now we can see what they actually do so we can stop them all from living in such a poor country
Wow...yeah, i had to agree with you...
My thoughts exactly. I mean seriously for what? it's not like theses pictures were denouncing anything really. North Korea actually looks less bad from what we know when looking at these.
His comments try to bring drama to every shot, yet there is none. For example: the "staggering" difference between a small town in NK and a larger one i China. It is normal to have small buildings too, you know. Obviously they have skyscrapers as well, just in different cities as can be seen from other photos.
I have to agree with this comment to some degree. Especially in the shot that he referenced. However, the image of the street with only 2 cars was a bit creepy. The shop for locals was kinda odd, too.
The difference, I guess, is that people actually inhabit the skyscrapers in China, whereas North Korea's skyscrapers are notorious for being "for show only".
Word. Kind of feel bad that people continually belittle and insult North Korea, when a lot of these things are normal around the world, yet however nobody ever stigmatizes or attacks these things in other countries. Pissing on the streets, police as urban surveyors, permits for the privilege to live in the capital city and entry cards to enter a country are all pretty normal things in this world, I don't see the big deal.
I agree. I have a hard time believing the author and the authenticity of the photos because of the overdramatizing comments. That's a shame, because I'm sure most of it is true.
Daria B, you have piqued my curiosity. What reasons do you have for trust issues about this author?
As somebody who lives in S.Korea, I have different reasons for trust issues about this author....
Cassie Williams, it's because I know second hand that they check all your photos prior to leaving, and in case they see any unwanted photos, if you are lucky, you can get away with an astronomically priced penalty, otherwise your sentence is like a decade of forced labour, or something like that. But then, that was long ago, maybe their laws have changed by now, and maybe this photographer managed to hide these on a separate usb memory, for example, well hidden somewhere, while the rest was deleted from the camera and phone. I'm not claiming the author is a liar, because I do believe it's possible to do this, but a dose of scepticism is naturally present.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Yeah! He should check an ig account of @jakaparker who lives in North Korea. Taking pictures there are not illegal at all.
This remind me of Romania, 26 years ago. The same gray buildings, empty streets and stores with no food to be sold. North Korea was the inspiration for Nicolae Ceausescu and the result was disastrous, a surface bigger than the Venice was destroyed to allow construction of blocks for workers and the ugliest structure ever built: The House of People (the actual Parliament Palace), the home of the Communist Party.
Could as well have been Bulgaria, though our regime was not quite as rigid as yours from what I know...
You are only looking at one perspective. Information is the enemy of the North Korean regime. Information going in, information going out. Does it put the guides in danger? Possibly, but they're in danger already- no one in North Korea is safe. If you're a high-level official you could be falsely accused, or they could turn on you in a moment. North Korean refugees say that they all have to break the rules in order survive, and yet know they could get caught and punished any time.
This idiot put his guides at risk and they will be imprisoned or killed if the government figures out who it was. The guidelines for visitors are very clear and this a*****e is a selfish schmuck
And now a poor guide sent into a prison camp along with his whole family for letting his turist taking illegal pictures.
agree. terribly selfish
And now you speculate with zero evidence in hopes of getting up-votes. Terribly selfish.
The difference between your opinion and the first guys' is that he comes from a country which actually knows how communism works.
Yes, also the woman with the child will have problems, the guy in the last photo, everybody from the train, the border officer that has left him to pass the border, the pilot and the crew of the plane, etc. Meanwhile, let's wait for the "Supreme Leader" Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman to publish some "real" photos from Korea.
Yeah on second thought do we really need these pictures to feel good about ourselves.
Don't be ridiculous. He didn't give the name of his guide and nobody will remember who took care of which tourist. He is safe.
He may have not given out the name of the guide but he did not blur out faces in the photographs. Everyone of those people in those pictures are witnesses.And if North Korea has mass surveillance then they can pinpoint who the guide is just by figuring out when those people where there at those locations vs what tour guide was on duty at the time.
did u not see the form they have to fill out when they arrive in North Korea? don't be so Naive lol.
Just what I thought the second I saw the title. Prison camp is the least of it.
How are they to know which guide to put in a camp ??
Yes. But now we can see what they actually do so we can stop them all from living in such a poor country
Wow...yeah, i had to agree with you...
My thoughts exactly. I mean seriously for what? it's not like theses pictures were denouncing anything really. North Korea actually looks less bad from what we know when looking at these.
His comments try to bring drama to every shot, yet there is none. For example: the "staggering" difference between a small town in NK and a larger one i China. It is normal to have small buildings too, you know. Obviously they have skyscrapers as well, just in different cities as can be seen from other photos.
I have to agree with this comment to some degree. Especially in the shot that he referenced. However, the image of the street with only 2 cars was a bit creepy. The shop for locals was kinda odd, too.
The difference, I guess, is that people actually inhabit the skyscrapers in China, whereas North Korea's skyscrapers are notorious for being "for show only".
Word. Kind of feel bad that people continually belittle and insult North Korea, when a lot of these things are normal around the world, yet however nobody ever stigmatizes or attacks these things in other countries. Pissing on the streets, police as urban surveyors, permits for the privilege to live in the capital city and entry cards to enter a country are all pretty normal things in this world, I don't see the big deal.
I agree. I have a hard time believing the author and the authenticity of the photos because of the overdramatizing comments. That's a shame, because I'm sure most of it is true.
Daria B, you have piqued my curiosity. What reasons do you have for trust issues about this author?
As somebody who lives in S.Korea, I have different reasons for trust issues about this author....
Cassie Williams, it's because I know second hand that they check all your photos prior to leaving, and in case they see any unwanted photos, if you are lucky, you can get away with an astronomically priced penalty, otherwise your sentence is like a decade of forced labour, or something like that. But then, that was long ago, maybe their laws have changed by now, and maybe this photographer managed to hide these on a separate usb memory, for example, well hidden somewhere, while the rest was deleted from the camera and phone. I'm not claiming the author is a liar, because I do believe it's possible to do this, but a dose of scepticism is naturally present.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Yeah! He should check an ig account of @jakaparker who lives in North Korea. Taking pictures there are not illegal at all.
This remind me of Romania, 26 years ago. The same gray buildings, empty streets and stores with no food to be sold. North Korea was the inspiration for Nicolae Ceausescu and the result was disastrous, a surface bigger than the Venice was destroyed to allow construction of blocks for workers and the ugliest structure ever built: The House of People (the actual Parliament Palace), the home of the Communist Party.
Could as well have been Bulgaria, though our regime was not quite as rigid as yours from what I know...
You are only looking at one perspective. Information is the enemy of the North Korean regime. Information going in, information going out. Does it put the guides in danger? Possibly, but they're in danger already- no one in North Korea is safe. If you're a high-level official you could be falsely accused, or they could turn on you in a moment. North Korean refugees say that they all have to break the rules in order survive, and yet know they could get caught and punished any time.
This idiot put his guides at risk and they will be imprisoned or killed if the government figures out who it was. The guidelines for visitors are very clear and this a*****e is a selfish schmuck