Featured Image Credit: Reddit/uspn
Topics: North Korea, Kim Jong-un, Photography, China
Joe Yates
Rare images show what it is like to live in North Korea.
North Korea is a very difficult country to visit on a regular year, however, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the country tighten up it's borders in 2020.
Even if you were able to travel to there, there's a ton of rules that come with it.
The country, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, it has been under the rule of The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since it was created in 1948.
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It is the sole party in power and its leader is Kim Jong-Un, who in 2011 succeeded his father Kim Jong II - who preceded his father Kim Il Sung.
According to Smart Traveller, there are strict policies on what you can and can't bring into the country, with political, religious or pornographic items being a big no-no.
And if you are thinking about doing your best impression of Kim Jong-il from Team America, then best think again as mocking the country and it's leaders can also get you into a lot of trouble.
Similarly, taking photographs that doesn't glorify North Korea is illegal.
However, people 'lucky' enough to make it into the country were only allowed to take pictures of public tourist landmarks and sights - in fact, if they took a photo of anything else they could be thrown in jail.
Now, four years on from Jong-Un making the country even more private - if that was even possible.
Photographer Pedro Pardo visited the Chinese and North Korean border to take some snaps of what life is really like in the state-run country.
The stealthy snapper gained access to the border in China's Jilin province to take pictures of the glum-looking nation - with them dating between February 26 and March 1 of this year.
The pictures portray what life is really like, as one picture depicts the town of Chunggang and shows dozens of houses that look exactly the same.
Meanwhile, there is a huge sign facing towards China, and quite childishly, or humorously, which translates to 'My country is the best!'.
In another picture, Pardo snapped from Tumen in China, North Korean soldiers working on the border - as well as a government building in Namyang.
He also managed to take a picture of a watchtower in North Korea's city of Hyesan - which depicts a soldier wearing a face mask spotting him, and what appears to be a dummy looking out the window of the structure.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, North Korea has been using 'expanded fences, guard posts, strict enforcement, and new rules, including a standing order for border guards to shoot on sight', a bleak new report from the Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed earlier this month.
Released on March 7, the report was titled 'A Sense of Terror, Stronger than a Bullet: The Closing of North Korea 2018–2023'.
HRW analyzed satellite images of the country's borders and found that between 2020 and 2023, North Korea had built a total 482km of new fencing in the areas and enhanced another 260km of primary fencing that had existed before, The Independent reports.