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50 Illegal Photos Of North Korea That Kim Jong Un Doesn’t Want You To See
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Photographer Eric Lafforgue is one of the very lucky few that have had a chance to see what North Korea is really like. "Since 2008, I have ventured to North Korea six times," he said. "Thanks to digital memory cards, I was able to save photos that I was forbidden to take or was told to delete by the minders."
He's actually a regular Bored Panda user who is responsible for some of the most popular posts on our website, for example 'Highway To Yell In North Korea Which I Captured During The Last Trip' and 'I Introduced Polaroid To North Korea, And It Made People Open Up And Tell Their Stories.'
Lafforgue wasn't interested in the carefully orchestrated tourist trips to the mysterious country, revealing only fake North Korea facts. He wanted to go beyond that, to catch a domestic glimpse of the land and people that aren't under the complete control of the regime. "I was treated like any other tourist," Eric told Bored Panda. "They didn't allow me to take pictures of the police, the army, etc. But with a 300mm zoom lens and a seat in the back of the bus, I could take so many..." He shot thousands of pictures, showing citizens and government officials going about their everyday lives. "As soon as they were opening a new area to visit I tried to go and see it, documenting the life in North Korea."
After Lafforgue came back from his 6th trip to North Korea in 2012, however, the government discovered him sharing secretly taken North Korea photos online. They demanded him to take down the images. "I refused as I show all the aspects of the Hermit Kingdom: the good and the bad. Just like I do with any country I visit. I refused to make an exception for North Korea, and they didn't like this." Soon, the regime banned Lafforgue from crossing its border ever again.
"During homestay meals in the countryside, I could speak with the locals for hours, thanks to my guides. They told me so much about how they live, what they dream of, and so on. The main thing to know is that North Koreans are warm people, very curious about the visitors and very generous, even though most of them own nearly nothing."
Scroll down to see Eric's North Korea pictures for yourself.
Updated: our video team has gathered more information on those images and contacted Eric for additional footage. Check our video for more information.
More info: ericlafforgue.com | Instagram
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A Woman Standing In The Middle Of A Crowd Of Soldiers. This Picture Is Not Supposed To Be Taken As Officials Do Not Allow Army Pictures
Such an amazing contrast! You must be having balls of titanium to click this image!
When You Visit Families, The Guides Love It If You Take Pics To Show The World That Kids Have Computers. But When They See There Is No Electricity, Then They Ask You To Delete!
This Kind Of Picture Is Widespread In The West. The Caption Often Explains That North Koreans Eat Grass From The Park. The Guides Get Furious If You Take It
A Rare Example Of An Undisciplined Kid In North Korea. The Bus Was Driving In The Small Roads Of Samijyon In The North, When This Kid Stood In The Middle Of The Road
Even the kid is in military dress, I am getting tired of seeing greens everywhere! This is so sick!
The Way You Dress Is Very Important In North Korea. In Town, You’ll Never Find Anybody Dressed Poorly. On This Day, Students Were Dancing In A Park. When I Asked To Take A Picture, The Girl Asked The Man To Straighten His Shirt
As Cars Have Become More Widespread In Pyongyang, The Peasants Are Still Getting Accustomed To Seeing Them. Kids Play In The Middle Of The Main Avenues Just Like Before When There Were No Cars In Sight
Pyongyang’s Subway System Is The Deepest In The World As It Doubles As A Bomb Shelter. Someone Saw Me Taking This Picture And Told Me To Delete It Since It Included The Tunnel
Perhaps The Most Ridiculous Prohibition I Faced: This Official Painter Was Working On A New Mural In Chilbo. I Took The Picture, And Everybody Started Yelling At Me. Since The Painting Was Unfinished, I Couldn’t Take The Picture
It Is Forbidden To Photograph Malnutrition
Even in malnutrition, he is wearing military cap and pin-button of his supreme leader.
When You Sleep In Kaesong, Near The Dmz, You Are Locked In An Hotel Complex Composed Of Old Houses. It Allows The Guides To Say “Why Do You Want To Go Outside? It’s The Same As In The Hotel.” No, It’s Not
It Is Forbidden To Take Pictures Of Soldiers Relaxing
Great picture even though it was a spy click. What sort of camera do you use?
On A Little Lake On The Way To Wonsan, This Fisherman Uses A Tire As A Boat
The Pionners Camp Of Wonsan Is Often Visited By Tourists To Show The Youth From All Over The Country Having Fun. But Some Children Come From The Countryside And Are Afraid To Use The Escalators Which They’ve Never Seen Before
When Visiting The Delphinium In Pyongyang, You Can Photograph The Animals, But Not The Soldiers Who Make Up 99% Of The Crowd
Queueing Is A National Sport For North Koreans
I don't mind the queue, it represents order. But here meaning of this image is so different, they are shepherded like sheep's by a mindless leader. This shows desperation, unavailability of travel resources and failing of govt doings.
In A Christian Church, This Official Was Dozing Off On A Bench. You Must Never Show The Officials In A Bad Light
With the window behind him and the light in the ceiling, i think he's seen in a pretty good light. I mean look at his shining head; It's brighter than my future
A Visit To A Rural Home. Those Houses And The Families Who Live There Are Carefully Selected By The Government. But Sometimes, A Detail Like A Bathroom Used As A Cistern Shows That Times Are Hard…
Families carefully selected by Government?? what the hell? and what happens to those who govt rejects?
This Soldier Was Sleeping In A Field
At times I wonder if we try a little too much to show the dark side of the country. I am aware of how weird, cruel and wary the rules in North Korea are but I dont see anything wrong with this soldier sleeping on the grass.
The North Korean Officials Hate When You Take This Kind Of Picture. Even When I Explain That Poverty Exists All Around The World, In My Own Country As Well, They Forbid Me From Taking Pictures Of The Poor
Only In North Korea: I Was At A Factory Shooting With My Tv Crew. We Were Followed By A Local Cameraman Who Filmed Throughout The Trip (On The Right). On This Day, The Government Sent Another Cameraman To Film Us All! Very Meta
That's filmception. Video shoot the video shoot of a video shoot.
It’s Not A Circus, They Are Workers In A Country With Low Safety Standards
One Night, On The Way Back To The Hotel My Bus Had To Take An Alternate Route Due To Street Closures. As We Passed By Old Buildings, The Guides Asked Me Not To Shoot With Flash. The Official Reason Was “To Avoid Scaring People”
I suspect that a flashing camera might indeed be scary for people who had never seen a picture being taken before, especially in the case of small children.
You Can Find All Kinds Of Food And Drinkin Pyongyang’s Two Supermarkets Where Things Are Sold In Both Euros And Wons. They Even Have Evian Water. Only The Elite Can Shop There
It Is Absolutely Forbidden To Take A Picture Of The Kim Statues From The Back. It Is Considered Very Rude
Brand New Restaurants Have Opened Along The Taedong River In The New Center Of Pyongyang. Only The Elite Can Afford To Eat There For The Equivalent Of Few Euros. The Sturgeon I Had Was Actually Very Tasty
This Man Was Taking A Rest On The Rocks By The Sea In Chilbo. My Guide Asked Me To Delete This For Fear That Western Media Could Say That This Man Was Dead. He Was Alive
"oh some hard pointy sharpy blunty rocks. What a comfy places to take my lunch nap"
When Times Are Hard (As They Usually Are Here), Kids Can Be Found Working For The Farming Collectives
Something You Can See Often In North Korea, But Still Forbidden To Photograph
In The Art Center Of Pyongyang, We Experienced A Power Outage, A Daily Event The North Koreans Hate To Show. When It Happens, They Tell You It’s Because Of The American Embargo
Paranoia Is Too Strong In North Korean Minds. I Took This Picture At A Fun Fair Of A Tired Mother And Child Resting On A Bench. I Was Asked To Delete The Picture Since The Guides Were Certain I Would Have Said Those People Were Homeless
You say you were asked to delete some of these photos but you didn't so what happened when you refused to?
For A Long Time, Bans Against Black Market Sales Have Been Strictly Enforced. Grey Market Vendors Are More Common. They Earn A Little Money Selling Cigarettes Or Sweets
there's a lot of this in Tijuana, Mexico. I'm certain other countries experience similar situations.
There Are A Lot Of Tired People Since Many Have To Ride Their Bikes For Hours To Go To Work In The Fields. Taking Pictures Of Them Is Forbidden
Public Transportation Connecting The Main Towns Is Nearly Nonexistent. Citizens Need Permits To Go From One Place To Another. On The Highways, You Can Spot Soldiers Hitchhiking
Citizens need permit to go from one place to another??? Jeez. That's unreal. I wonder how long it will take for North Koreans to stand up against this mindless tyrannical govt. and start a revolution and throw the govt. out.
The Officials Took Issue With This Photo For Two Reasons: 1) The Teen Has His Cap Worn In A Strange Way (According To My Guide), And 2) There Are Soldiers In The Back
A Very Rare Picture Of A Wheelchair. In Six Trips, I Saw Only Two Of Them
They allow people to be disabled? I just assumed it was forbidden.
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Disabled receive no government support. Proper medical care is almost impossible to procure, even if your family can afford it. Children born with medical conditions might not... live for very long.
Is the comment here from Novi Dwi Prasetya genuine?? It sounds like she means it - the style is something beyond sarcastic. If it is, I am gobsmacked.
What slander. To understand why this is so, you must know the story of Great Leaders trip to Norway. The Precious Leader was invited to Norway to teach their broken, impoverished citizens how to irrigate their crops as well as North Korea. However, when The Lovely Leader arrived, the uncultured hosts had allowed a pleb with inferior leg bones to park his capitalist motor-horse in the most desirable spot, which was marked with a white throne to show its desirability! However, rather than begrudge this man for his unimaginable rudeness, or his most-offensive legs, the great leader pushed the mans carriage-chair onto the ground. As the man lifted himself from the puddle of muddy water he had fallen in, he found that he could walk, just like a real man! The great leader then made a solemn vow, that not one of his people, should ever have cause to behave with such humiliating rudeness to a most honored guest, and thus, cured all inferior-boned comrades here in the land he holds most sacred.
The sad truth for the affluent countries of the world is that we may well have a higher ¨production¨of wheelchair bound movement impaired people as a result of there being so much more traffic on the roads, leading in turn to more accidents.
Plus don't forget that countries like the UK and the USA also have many disabled war veterans, and people in the free world have opportunities to take up extreme sports or participate in endurance activities, often for charity or just for personal satisfaction or become explorers, in the pursuit of which they sometimes suffer serious injuries. There is no opportunity to do these things in North Korea.
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I actually read something about this recently.. that the city is woefully difficult for disabled folk to traverse.. very behind on updating public transportation systems to ensure they are accessible.
Load More Replies...This Is Never Supposed To Happen: A Broom Standing On The Base Of Kim Il Sung’s Statue In Mansudae, In Pyongyang
Is that Kim II Sung's suitcase and hat? Was he allowed to leave then like this before stepping on the platform?
Thousands Of North Koreans On The Day Of The Kimjongilia Festival, Queuing Up To Visit Various Monuments
That cute little girl though is such a contrast. I hope when she grows up, she grows up in a world like ours.
Showing Poverty Is Forbidden, But Displaying Wealth Is Also A Big Taboo In North Korea. In A Park On A Sunday Afternoon, I Found This Car That Belongs To One Of Pyongyang’s Elite. The Owners Were Having A Bbq
It Is Forbidden To Take Pictures Of The Daily Life Of The North Korean People If They Are Not Well Dressed. For My Guide This Man Was Not Well Dressed Enough To Be Photographed
Ahh - The military cap and pin-button of supreme leader is missing.
Taking Pictures In The Dmz Is Easy, But If You Come Too Close To The Soldiers, They Stop You
On This Day In Spring, People Had Put Some Carpets To Dry On The Banks Of The Taedong River. Since There Was A Kim Il Sung Statue In The Back, Taking Picture With Those Carpets Was Forbidden
What is not - forbidden? I wish you could hold a banana in one hand and taken a picture of that statue with both parallel in sight!
Perfection Is Key To Any Activity In North Korea. Only The Best Of The Best Are Selected To Perform In Front Of A Live Audience. This Acrobat Did 3 Flips For This Feat
Kids In Begaebong Streets, Collecting Grains
Pyongyang Is Supposed To Be The Showcase Of North Korea, So Building Exteriors Are Carefully Maintained. When You Get A Rare Chance To Look Inside, The Bleak Truth Becomes Apparent
I Went To Chongjin, A City In The North That Suffered A Lot From Hunger Few Years Ago. My Camera Was Confiscated For The Duration Of The Bus Trip. Once At The Hotel, I Understood Why When I Saw The People In The Street
Man Bathing In A River Near His Town
Every Year, People From The Town Go To The Country To Help Out In Public Projects. On This Day, They Repainted Milestones. Before To Government Regarded Shots Like These As Positive, But Now They Understand That We Can Interpret This As Forced Labor
Money Is A Taboo Topic Of Conversation In North Korea. It’s Very Difficult To Understand How Much People Earn, The Cost Of Living, Etc… When I Took This Picture Of The Cashier Of The Brand New Fun Fair Counting A Lot Of Money, It Was Not A Good Idea!
On The Highways, You Can See Trucks Loaded With Coal, Since North Korea Has Big Problem Getting Oil Like During Ww2
Reminds me of the lame Airplane! sequel where the space shuttle ran on coal xD.
Mixed feeling when looking these images. It's probably good to show the reality of life in North Korea but can't help thinking what consequences this kind of photos could cause 1st to people shown in the photos (and doing silly things under the portraits of "belowed leaders" ) and then to those guides whose task have been preventing of taking these photos. Happy camping and lot's of hard work ?
I agree. I fear for the safety of many of the people in these photos.
That was definitely my first worry, especially the military photos
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Boogers
This person refused to takedown photos when the North Korean government asked him to. He might have seen himself as a photographer shining a light in the darkness of the unknown, but he may very well have endangered the lives of everyone he took a clear photo of. Yes letting people know about what's going on is important, but showing people's faces so clearly, places all those people who shared their stories with him in danger. I cannot condone someone who places his personal agenda above the lives and well being of the already oppressed people he photographed. No matter the personal risk he took to get this, he places an even greater risks on the people who took photos of. What other journalists who cover North Korea do is take photos that protect their identities and or write about rather than photography it. That would have been less risky an endeavor than this and still served it's purpose of educating the world. The ends don't justify the means.
I wonder if the photographer will even feel guilty if the subjects of his photos gets imprisoned or even killed for what he did here
Most likely not.
They do. It shows us how they live and who they are. We are visual creatures, better moved by pictures than text. We know what they do to them. We know what is it like. Whether they are punished or not, they could have been either way. There is no real justice there. Only famine in NK gives you certain effects... It also shows us that nobody cares about NK either way and their people. Nobody will benefit from fall of NK, so nobody cares and they let this farce.
With all the continual news coverage of North Korea, articles being written especially from the point of view of the people who used to live there and who have since escaped, there is coverage of North Korea out there. Putting the photos up on bored panda is not the bastion of social change. Here is an example of an article from the perspective of someone who escaped North Korea https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/28/my-mothers-escape-from-north-korea-the-girl-with-seven-names blurring a photo. There are many ways people are trying to spread the world and it is a hot topic that is always on the news. The idea this guy did it just to spread awareness is hard to stomach when it's all over the news feed these days. So no I don't think what he did justifies the endangerment of people. A government oppressing people is already bad enough, but now this photographer in addition risks their lives due to this act, makes him partly responsible for their fate.
Thank you for taking the risk
Most of these are cool, but the ones that show people's faces makes me very concerned, especially if they are of people doing forbidden things.
I am worried about the people in these pictures.. someone may loose their life because he accidentally left the broom next to the statue of the "great leader". Is it worth putting innocent lives at risk for s few pics...not that anyone is going to do anything to ease their suffering..
That is the picture you are worried about??? That was like the ONLY picture that showed something forbidden that someone did that had no one in the picture!! How is someone supposed to lose their life for leaving a broom, when you don't know who did it?
So many things forbidden. I think I got that word imprinted now when thinking of North Korea :/ All this makes you wonder, how it's even possible that a country like that exists...
There a lot of examples in history that have shown us that this type system is all to easy to exist and continue existing.
I definitely think you should have blurred the faces of these people. Who knows what kind of retribution they might face if the government should see these?
Stanimira Deleva I have grown up in socialism. Yes, we have had restrictions on travel outside the country.Yes, for the elite in the state there were many extras,but the people worked and earned a decent salary to live a dignified life.We had free education, inc free university.Free healtcare too...90% had their own homes too.Now we live in democracy. Only the rich live a normal life...no more than 30-40%. About 25% people really travel around the world but to work for miserable money to help their famalies home.Besause they,most of them maybe 40% of all of our people live in misery, total misery. Minimal salary 200 dollars and pension-120.So my dear,dont lie,come back home and see the reality
I don't understand why he treats his people this way. That's probably an incredibly naive thing to say with the whole absolute power corrupts absolutely but still.
Im grown up behind the the iron curtain guys and i can tell you one thing.I dream we were not received your democracy...let me say why: We were on 16th place according to the UN standard of living.Super-developed economy and agriculture. Free education and medical care for absolutely all..work for all, and even import labor from China and Vietnam.every single person was important and protected, except for the rioters working against the power.But it was something that western democracy does not understand. So,they came and told us how to live in a democratic way ,they helped us to change the laws and the constitution.... Let me tell you the result:from 100% economy and agriculture - 5-10% left, high unemployment, many homeless, big criminality and corruption.You have transformed my homeland from paradise into a Third World country :(
I'm grown up behind tě Iron curtain too. And I am happy now. Because Economist situation i much better then in communism. Russia was economic disaster before democracy And even now is there only corrupcy and plenty russian people try to live in Europe, not in Russia. Guess why.
It was never a paradise and it is not a third - world country now - communism was never a good idea. Communism is only good if you are a person with no interests, opinion or skills. If you only want to exist and your greatest achievement is to have a small apartment and a job, which you do not care about. Our country was a really bad place and now is getting better.
That's simply not true - who had the free education or healthcare? Only the friends of the Party and their children. You forget the most important things - you were not able to leave the country - why you were not able to leave the country if it was so good? Why was it forbidden to listen to European radio or music or wear western clothes? If your communism was so good why those things were forbidden? You were probably young back then and you remember being young and happy - your memory is simply misleading you. Yes, everyone had job, but at what cost - the smart, intelligent, ambitious people were smashed down by the government - only the "obedient" and submissive people were able to survive. Everyone, who had a different opinion was sent to jail. Do you want this back - go to North Korea then, but please, please think again before speaking out how good communism was for you. People seem to easily forget. And stop this bulshit about standard of life and economy - this was never true!
Please tell us the name of your country.
When you do not understand something, do not try to change it according to your own understanding. We have a very appropriate saying:Instead of fixing the eyebrows, you take out the eyes...
Then if you are here and feel resentful, leave. If your country takes our (my) money, then make them stop. Your weren't asked to live here and you weren't asked to learn English, but apparently you found it important.
Thank you for sharing this...the world needs to see this
Blurring the faces would have definitely diminished the impact, hopefully the journalist/photographer is 100% confident that the individuals will not be possible to trace.
Interesting how these photographs are described and commented on. Each of them has a US equivalent. There are many places in the US where you can get arrested, or fined, or even beaten mercilessly by police for taking a picture. Hundreds of people resting on benches in the US actually are homeless. Buildings abound in every city, reduced to ruins. It is also illegal in this country to photograph military activities, banks and public buildings. Americans forget that only 60 years ago, the US bombed North Korea literally to dust, killed a full third of its population, and leveled punishing sanctions to further cripple this country. Nonetheless, they have completely rebuilt their country, their lives, and their culture. This is worthy of laud not ridicule. How many countries has NK invaded, and how many has the US invaded? The answers are zero and 139. Nukes? NK - 1, US - millions. Yet the comments on this article dutifully reflect the accepted party line. "Must hate North Korea."
What surprises me is the lack of follow-through my said guys after they demanded a picture be deleted. I would just have expected that they would have made sure these were deleted. And if it is the case that these are the few that slipped through the cracks.... Then what content was most guarded from our eyes? Sounds a lot like Gilead.
It's so pitiful how deprived the people are there.
I know someone who has visited North Korea and it's really nothing like you see in the media.
Mixed feeling when looking these images. It's probably good to show the reality of life in North Korea but can't help thinking what consequences this kind of photos could cause 1st to people shown in the photos (and doing silly things under the portraits of "belowed leaders" ) and to guides whose task have been preventing of taking these photos. Happy camping and lot's of work ?
"Photographer Smuggles Illegal Photos Out Of North Korea, And Kim Jong Un Doesn’t Want You To See Them" I won't doubt or criticize this title, but.... If that's true, do I risk getting called by the police for clicking on this article? Because seriously, there is contents out there on the internet about N. Korea that are illegal and blocked in the South.
Who the hell downvoted this? Daria B lives in South Korea, her comment is completely justified! What is wrong with Bored Panda lately, you can't have a slightly different opinion without being downvoted into oblivion.
Thank you, KnightOwl.