A Window Into a Paranoid Nation: North Korea Uncovered

V11 network photographer Tomas van Houtryve was granted unprecedented access to shoot images of life inside North Korea. The V11 Agency, one of its founders being James Nachtwey, often covers stories that never make it to mainstream media and provide very personal, often emotive, glimpses into the lives of people around the world.

Lots of feelings come to mind when looking at these pictures, but the one thing that stands out the most is the sense of sterility. North Korean Communism - a life lived in shades of gray.

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The barrel of a tank and various diagrams of tank systems decorate a classroom in Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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A patient lies in bed in the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital in Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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A dentist performs dental work on a patient at the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital in Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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An image of Kim Il-Sung's pistol is displayed as a mosaic made of 20,000 people holding colored cards during the Ariang Mass Gymnastic in Pyongyang. 100,000 performers participate in the Mass gymnastics, the largest propaganda spectacle in the world.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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A teacher stands before a class (under the portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il) while students busy themselves with physics experiments at a model secondary school in Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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A mother carries her child while browsing for clothing in a store in Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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Koreans picnic along a river near Mount Myohyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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A North Korean soldier points out the DMZ, the de-militarized zone that serves as the border between North and South Korea on a scale model of the Korean peninsula in Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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A North Korean factory director holds his head during a visit by foreign visitors in Pyongyang.
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.


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The monument to the Korean workers’ party, symbolized by the hammer (for industrialists), the sickle (for the workers) and the calligraphy brush (for intellectuals).
Copyright © 2006, VII Photo Agency LLC. All rights reserved.

Can you imagine visiting North Koreans for a day to see how they live? I would love to bring my ipod and play some music for them.

It would be nice if many westerners visited NK fpr a few weeks and live as they live.
Would certainly make you appreciate what we have back home, and just how petty our bickering truely is straight across the board.

I don't know if the north koreans want "liberation", but such places are necessary in the world still, to show just how bad things can get should we allow for our freedoms to leave and xenophobia kick in.

reply to post by LarryLove


Is the title suppose to reflect the images?

If you think N-Korea is paranoid then you must think the US is literally psychotic for having a plan designed to invade every country in the world, including Israel I think. No, I'm not lying..

I love N-Koreans for who they are, not for what the US wants them to be. I hate people complaining about them based on propaganda, and they don't even know they are swallowing propaganda, kinda makes you look like a person who is eating sh1t and then claiming no he is not eating sh1t because it tastes good

Sorry for the sick analogy, I have to make it intense for some to actually go and do some research and continually question what you think is true.

years of sanctions only made their leader stronger and the NK people suffer more.

[edit on 3-9-2010 by nagabonar]

You can visit North Korea if you want, It just isn't that easy.

Theres a travel company here that will take you.

Basically you are led around in groups, constantly monitored by a government official and show a kind of Disney Land version of the country. I think it will be pretty hard to get a visa if you are from the U.S. though

I visited North Korea last August. If you have access to RATS you can see some of the photos that I took.

It really is an unusual place.

-Center of the Party
-Superior Person
-Dear Leader
-Respected Leader
-Wise Leader
-Brilliant Leader
-Unique Leader
-Dear Leader, who is a perfect incarnation of the appearance that a leader should have
-Commander-in-Chief
-Great Leader
-Father of the People
-Sun of Communist Future Shining Star of Paektu
-Mountain Guiding Ray of Sun
-Leader of Revolutionary Armed Forces
-Guarantee of the Unification of Fatherland
-Symbol of the Unification of Fatherland
-Fate of the Nation
-Beloved
-Father
-Leader of the Party, of the country, and of the Army
-Leader
-General
-Great Leader of our Party and of our Nation
-Great General
-Beloved and Respected General
-Great Leader
-Beloved and Respected Leader
-Invincible and Iron-Willed Commander
-Sun of Socialism
-Sun of the nation
-Great Sun of Life
-Great Sun of Nation
-Father of the Nation
-World’s Leader of The 21-st century
-Peerless Leader
-Bright Sun of The 21-st century
-Great Sun of The 21-st century
-Leader of The 21-st century
-Amazing politician
-Great Man, Who Descended From Heaven
-Glorious General, Who Descended From Heaven
-Supreme Leader of the Nation
-Bright Sun of juche
-Leader of the Party and of People
-Great Marshal
-Invincible and All-triumphant General
-Beloved and Respected Father
-Guiding Star of The 21-st century
-Great Man, Who Is a Man of Deeds
-Great Defender
-Savior
-Mastermind of the Revolution
-Highest Incarnation of the Revolutionary Comradely Love
-His excellency

Kim Jong-il

en.wikipedia.org...'s_titles

I would love to see pictures.

What is RATS?, (I can guess what the ATS bit stands for)

reply to post by oozyism

Sounds to like like someone is swallowing some NK propaganda of their own...

Originally posted by palg1
reply to post by oozyism

 

Sounds to like like someone is swallowing some NK propaganda of their own...

Tell me which part of what I posted is a N-Korea propaganda, if you can show I'm eating N-Korean propaganda I won't eat it anymore.

Trust me on this, I'm very open minded.

Just don't embarrass yourself in the process.

reply to post by oozyism


Thank you for your well thought out and civilized reply!

The thread is to merely showcase a story I found interesting and in particular share pictures which aren't designed to have a political or American imperialistic nature, but offer a pictorial insight to life in North Korea.

Before you go wading in too far, I would like to go on record to say that the Communist government of North Korea is very paranoid and my choice of title was chosen to reflect this. The thread is to discuss emotive responses to the pictures and I am most certainly not advocating regime change by any nation. My country (UK) has done enough of that over the years.


[edit on 3-9-2010 by LarryLove]

reply to post by deessell


I have no idea how to access the section of ATS you reference in your post, but would be keen to see those pictures posted here or in another thread if possible?

reply to post by LarryLove


When viewing those images I see a unique characteristic which N-Korea has, and that is the perfect organization..

I love that about them, and I love their simple way of life. The reason behind these positive emotions has much to do with the fact that I was raised up in a Muslim surroundings up to age of 12, and you would know that Muslims also have that simple way of life, and have similar organization (hence if you see the Mosques and how thousands of people pray 5 times a day, that is commitment and organization.

The same I see in N-Korea, but others see oppression, sadness, hate, totalitarianism, boring, un-fun, unhappy etc etc..

I know it from experience, that it is life, for some people that life is a million times better the Western way of life, and other might as well die before living in that life.

Hopefully that elaborates a little more in regards to my previous post..

reply to post by oozyism


I would agree with you if it wasn't North Korea we are talking about. A conservative estimate of the numbers of dead after famine ravished the area during the nineties is 600,000. Some even put the figure at 3.5 million.

If an average North Korean was offered a chance to live outside of the constraints its government impose, I wonder what the answer would be.

I don't think the average North Korean's gross national happiness is at a good quota yet.

Saw the documentary...that place is crazy!!!

Ive seen many around this conspiracy-site feel positive emotions toward NorthKorea. They see north Korea as a power of good, as the hero, against those evil American/European forces. Sadly, this says a lot about the mental state of many "conspiracy theorists".

A very simple way to measure the 'happiness' of a country's population is to look at immigration vs. emigration. People tend to "vote with their feet."

I've not looked at any statistics, but it's no secret that people are literally dying to get out of North Korea. Yet, it's in western nations where we have to have debates about illegal immigration because of people wanting to get in.

And please don't refute these points with odd-ball stories of kooks trying to get in - there are villiage idiots everywhere - I'm talking about the vast percentages. The point is that if North Korea were such a great place, people would be trying to get in, not out. Just ask South Koreans...