Asia - North Korea
This section displays selected images from the DPRK (North Korea) taken during a fortnight visit to the area in May 2013. Images related to China, from the same trip will follow in a separate gallery later.
Scroll through the images using the arrows, click on an image to enlarge and then select 'previous' or 'next' to scroll through the chosen set in the larger format.
Re-click on Gallery heading to exit the set and choose another group of images.
Scroll through the images using the arrows, click on an image to enlarge and then select 'previous' or 'next' to scroll through the chosen set in the larger format.
Re-click on Gallery heading to exit the set and choose another group of images.
Panoramic view of Pyongyang City
Misty Pyongyang City
Looking towards the Yanggak Islet, in the Taedong River
Looking towards the Taedonggang District of Pyongyang City
Looking towards the Tongdaewon District of Pyongyang.
The Tower of Juche Idea
Close up of the Tower of Juche Idea
Leaders' statutes in Kim Il Sung Square
Typical mural of Kim Il Sung found throughout North Korea
The Monument to Party Founding, in the Taedonggang District, viewed from the other side of the river.
The Grand People's Study House, close to Kim Il Sung square
Fountains close to Kim Il Sung square
Constant sweeping of leaves around the Leaders statues
Depiction of past struggles can be found everywhere
Tree lined Chilsongmum Street in the capital
One of the many elderly trolley buses winding its way through the capital streets
Children on roller-blades in a city square
Plenty of foliage can be found amongst the concrete
Wide clean streets are the order of the day
It's not all trolley buses!
A double decker bus with a full load
Trolley buses in every colour!
A crowded tram, heading into the city.
A trolley bus
A trolley-bus also packed with passengers
Another one, just passed a traffic policeman
A female traffic officer monitors traffic at every junction.
A typical set of propaganda posters that are frequently seen around the city
More murals towards the city centre
And a few metres down the street........
Approaching the city train station
A hazy sunset over the city.
Another view from our bedroom window in the Koryo Hotel
The Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification
Example of the roads and lack of traffic.
Maybe this road has a dual purpose, highway and runway?
Local dwellings off the southbound highway
Propaganda painting approaching the DMZ, near Panmunjom
The entrance into the DMZ buffer zone at Panmunjom
Graphic layout of the DMZ, being demonstrated by a soldier from the DPRK
The meeting room in which the armistice agreement was signed between North and South Korea
The preserved signed armistice document.
The huts that straddle the border between North & South Korea.
An example of the listening and monitoring devices at the border
An area of calm amongst all this tension right on the southern side of the border
Street life in Kaesong
More propaganda downtown
Street traffic
The bicycle is king....
Washing clothes by the river.
The Nam Gate or South Gate.
Traffic as seen through the arch in the Nam Gate
Street life in the old town
Koryo History Museum
More streetside propaganda material......
Bronze figure of Kim Il Sung
The hazy centre of Kaesong
A close-up of the centre city high rise buildings
The old town, as seen from Janam Hill
The Party Founding Monument, built 1995
A close up of the sickle and hand
The Chollima fabled winged horse statue.
A typical street scene in the capital
Schoolchildren walking in the city
Another typical street scene.
Another propaganda mural within the city
The Air Koryo flight crew and their Il-18 that brought us to the north of the country
Snow covered Mount Paektu as seen from Samjiyon airport
A wooded ski resort in the north of the country
Local dwellings on the edge of town.
Rimyongsu waterfall
A close up of the falls
The lake at the foot of the Rimyongsu waterfall
Washing clothes downstream
The sluice gates at the foot of the falls
A view of the lake from the top of the Rimyongsu falls
Two local children, fascinated by the camera
Sobaek stream, near Mount Paektu
Jong Il Peak, 1,797m high.
A mural depicting where Kim Jong Il was born.
A 15m tall statue of the Great Leader in his youthful guerrilla days
The Samjiyon Great Monument
A close up of the Grand Monument
More detail of the Grand Monument
One of our 'luxury'tour buses around Samjiyon
The more upmarket bus that I was lucky enough to have travelled in, on the mostly unpaved roads in this area.
50m tall statue of the Juche flame
The Pegaebong Hotel, a large Swiss-style hotel
A gathering of school children
Loudspeakers on city apartment walls.
Part of an industrial complex, in the DPRK's second city.
Lead smelters, producing lead bullion for the local battery industry and export to China.
More bleak industrial sites.
Bongung house
Roof carvings on the Bongung house
Ceiling detail in the Bongung house
Typical rural transport, boiling tar for road patching.
Roadside dwelling
More local dwellings, surrounded by fields
A tractor, modified for working in the rice fields
Another variant of a tractor
If you can't get a tractor, haul it yourself.......!!
The main mode of transport throughout the DPRK
"The open road, with no traffic!"
Laden carts awaiting their oxen.
Rual life is hard
Not much water in the river today!
Working in the rice fields with oxen
Workers planting rice
Rice field workers with their transport in the foreground
Pyongyang city environs
Local dwellings with propaganda nearby
Children's playground in the city suburbs
Pedestrian walk-over
Traffic in the city!
TV Mast beside the Liberation Tower, on Moran Hill
The Liberation Tower
The Arch of Triumph, erected in 1982, on the 70th birthday of Kim Il Sung.
The Pothong Gate, first built in the mid 6th century
An almost American style form of propaganda!
Delivery must have been extra!
Entry into the underground transport (metro) system
A illuminated display board of the metro network
The 200-odd metre descent on almost vertigo inducing escalators.
The metro stations are almost underground cathedrals to socialism.
The metro trains run every five to seven minutes, or every two minutes at peak times.
An example of the murals seen in the underground system
Commuters take the opportunity to read the local news whilst waiting for the next metro to arrive.
The metro chandeliers are themed by station name.
Some school children abount to take the metro.
The Arch of Triumph as seen after emerging from the Kaeson metro station
A traffic police officer, close to a pedestrian under-pass
Children practicing with skipping ropes
A family scene captured in the city streets
The upper section of the twin towers of the Koryo Hotel
Part of the Pyongyang railway station yard
A misty evening view over the city
The clouds/smog increase as the day ends
The source of the mist/smog perhaps?
The only smog free morning during our stay
Moring communters outside the city rail station
Outside Pyongyang railway station
Rice fields, seen heading north from the capital.
A settlement, seen heading north from Pyongyang
Cultivated fields
A typical rural scene
Fertile land, with the Myohyang Mountains as a backdrop
The Namhung Youth Chemical Complex
Working the rice fields
