A man overrides his camera's firmware to bring rare pictures of North Korea back

http://www.m1key.me/photography/road_to_north_korea/

by jorge-d • 10 years ago

449 169 10 years ago

x1798DE• 10 years ago

What a weird title for this. He doesn't even say that that actually happened, just that you can override your firmware to make the delete button not work.

MBCook• 10 years ago

It's mentioned in the footnotes of one of the pictures.

Laforet10• 10 years ago

Which one was it?

userbinator• 10 years ago

The title reminds me of this article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6980058

Why not create a SD card that doesn't actually delete data (until it gets completely full and there's no other way, of course) but instead encrypts it in such a way that only those who know can retrieve it; sort of like an NSA backdoor, but one you control...

0xffff2• 10 years ago

sort of like an NSA backdoor, but one you control...

So... just a backdoor, then?

peterburkimsher2• 10 years ago

I want to get two PQI Air Cards with WiFi and make a custom firmware to auto-sync the contents. Then there would be a continuous backup to a safe location (e.g. iPod + iFlash) with no additional software needed.

ajuc• 10 years ago

Or take additional card and hide it?

acqq• 10 years ago

It's not the article title (the real title is "Road to North Korea Photography") but the clickbait, and it's even not true. The author never claims he changed his firmware.

Dear mods e.g. dang, can you pretty please correct this? Thanks.

ZoeZoeBee• 10 years ago

It is amazing what a generation of brain washing and isolation can do to the perspective of a nation. Amazing to hear a quarter of the population is mentally deficient due to malnutrition, no wonder they believe the world is in awe of their accomplishments. I chuckled when I read they believe payments form other nations (International Aid) are their spoils from war.

Topographically what a beautiful country, I hope some day the North Koreans are afforded an opportunity at freedom.

viraptor2• 10 years ago

While this is what they're told, it's not necessarily what they believe. In the socialist eastern europe people have been regularly told lies on the radio / TV. Most people knew. And others knew they knew. That doesn't mean the propaganda stopped.

Lots of old movies, songs, comedy shows, etc. referenced that fact subtly, and often they managed to get it through the censorship.

T2_t2• 10 years ago

Propaganda exists not to convince. Propaganda exists to define what the rules are, so they can spot people who deviate. If "dogs" was an illegal word, then anyone that says "dogs" becomes an way to spot people prone to illegal activity.

Dictatorships really don't care what you think, they care what you DO, and more importantly, they care what you can openly discuss and with whom. Making it easy to spot those likely to rebel is the goal of propaganda, who gives a hoot what anyone thinks.

PhasmaFelis3• 10 years ago

Yes, they've been isolated and deceived, but don't be too quick to mock them. Your own worldview is probably not nearly as accurate and complete as you think it is. (Nor mine.)

csense• 10 years ago

Probably an outsider has no way to tell how many North Koreans really believe the party line and how many of them are just saying what they need to say to keep themselves and their families out of concentration camps.

sveiss• 10 years ago

The photographer shared this set on Reddit around a month ago and included some additional commentary in the thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/46ahkv/illegal_photo_...

It was, and is, a fascinating series of photos.

lingben• 10 years ago

NK is really a surreal place, no matter how much you learn about it, something new will still shock you

for example, I watched a documentary about a Western eye doctor who went there pro bono to do cataract surgeries

the thing was, when he gave people their sight back they didn't thank him, they went up to a picture of 'Dear Leader' and wept and prostrated themselves in a cathartic show of gratitude

will_brown• 10 years ago

There are 2 ways to look at that...

1. They are legitimately brainwashed into believing he is God; or

2. They simply know anytime the cameras are on or the Party is present, as would be the case for such an event, they are required to approach Dear Leader's picture and begin the tears...or off to the camps for them and their whole family.

fratlas• 10 years ago

Unfortunately from the interviews I've read it is absolutely number 1.

sullivanmatt• 10 years ago

The documentary is "Inside North Korea", for the curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxLBywKrTf4

InclinedPlane3• 10 years ago

Camp 14: Total Control Zone, it's a heartbreaking movie about what life is like in the gulags of North Korea. Shocking to think that sort of thing is still going on just a few miles away from the developed world.

pakled_engineer• 10 years ago

There's a NK defector where I live who runs a restaurant, who's family spent some time in a NK prison when he defected (he bribed their way out) and claims there is financial incentive for defectors to come up with the most sensational stories possible. Even the author of that book the movie is based on admitted he fictionalized parts of it a few months ago so the movie, which is merely based on the book is likely a complete fabrication. Not saying horrible things don't happen in totalitarian gulags but I wouldn't trust that movie to be anything except fiction.

The defector here uses Kakao Talk to contact his NK family every day, and he manages to send them money on a regular basis at only a 15% fee through some Chinese Hawala-like network. Most of the military and party officials like to gamble remotely in Chinese/Myanmar casinos so there is widespread unregistered money transfer networks in place across the country.

bjornsteffanson• 10 years ago

The principal subject of this film recanted much of his story in 2015.

lovemenot• 10 years ago

I met a lady of Korean origin on a flight from Dalian (China) to Tokyo. She was on her way home, after visiting siblings in North Korea. She had Japanese citizenship, so it was allowed. She told me that when her sister spoke privately of the good weather, she would thank the Dear Leader for his grace.

On a previous visit, her host had proudly presented a bag of emaciated sesame seeds as a gift. On this visit the gift was reciprocated with a bag of lush Japan-grown seeds. Nothing was said, but at that moment her sister's face showed realisation.

nether• 10 years ago

When my cousin visited the DPRK, she said that all the paper there was like tissue, and that anything made there of plastic would shatter when dropped. Really limited manufacturing abilities.

derefr• 10 years ago

anything made of plastic would shatter when dropped

So, they can make plastic, but not plasticizers. I always thought those had the same feedstock.

Laforet10• 10 years ago

The pictures are not bad, but the captions are incredibly cringe and condescending. Of course he would not bother to tell us how to disable the delete in the firmware. Seriously, I mean, thousands of people have gone on these state-sponsored package tours in North Korea and we see the same set of trains, roads, hotels and attractions that they have really got boring.

One photography project I do found interesting is the set below commissioned by Getty Images. The photographers they hired found a loophole in their visa conditions, managed enter NK from Russia and reached Pyongyang on trains rarely used by tourists. They were able to interact more with the locals since the border guards as well as people en route have not been "coached" to speak to foreginers and the whole thing came out feeling much more genuine than these tourist flicks.

Selected pictures featured in Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3210256/Fascinating-...

Photographer's Portfolio: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/events/573232783?exclude...

Photographer's written account of their travel (in Chinese), plus a few candid shots that Getty refused to buy: https://www.zhihu.com/question/19972643/answer/81163727

colinplamondon2• 10 years ago

Condescending? This is an enslaved country with concentration many times larger than anything the Nazis cooked up. It's hard to condescend to one of the great evils in history.

chimeracoder• 10 years ago

Condescending? This is an enslaved country with concentration many times larger than anything the Nazis cooked up. It's hard to condescend to one of the great evils in history.

Well, for starters, comparing the people who live in North Korea to animals is one way.

It's quite incredible to witness Chinese or South Korean tourists interacting with North Korean fishermen - it reminded me of safaris is [sic] East Africa. You keep wondering, what are the North Koreans really thinking?

And that's only on the fourth slide.

Laforet10• 10 years ago

Did not expect Godwin's law to be invoked so soon but I will give it a shot:

The Chinese city where you get to do that is called Dandong. I read somewhere it was the most humane of Chinese cities, most having become a polluted nightmare these days...

If he was being ironic I must have missed it. He seems to regard Dandong as the pinnacle of Chinese economic ascendancy when the city actually has a reputation for rampant violent crime thanks to smuggling and drug trade that occurs across the border.

Pluralism and individualism are regarded as the greatest enemy. I understood the significance of being able to drive a car anywhere you want, when you please, where you please - as our guide told us in North Korea you only travel big distances by bus or train, when you get permission.

Internal visa is an evil system, but this paragraphs just reeks of material and moral superiority. Hey why don't you just become a rugged individual like me and save up for a car when there is only three scheduled trains every week?

North Koreans supposedly believe that the entire world is in awe of their achievements.

That's a lot to ask for a paddy field in the middle of nowhere.

The man has some genuine dignity.

Again, really hard to figure out whether it is sarcasm or not.

See, I am not interested in defending the NK regime. However the author/photographer shows a rather disappointing lack of understanding, respect or the slightest empathy to for his subjects. Hence his pictures, while technically sound, are no better than the millions of photos taken by Western tourists in North Korea.

sdm• 10 years ago

I agree with the OP, I found the captions extremely condescending. Especially the ones about China. The worst one for me was:

At night, the elderly Chinese dance in the streets in unison avoiding any displays of individuality.

This comment would be the same as going to an aerobics class and saying "the gym rats move in unison avoiding any displays of individuality". These dancing grannies are not much difference, one of the main reasons they do this is for health and to stay active. Like going to the gym there is also a social component; health and social reasons are why the grannies dance. Actually each group does things differently and the moves are part of the tradition. It's as about anti-individualistic as going to an aerobic or yoga class.

Really, it starts going bad at the opening:

The Koreans are one nation, but not unlike Germany, the country was divided between the USSR and the US following World War 2.

This is just factually incorrect. A more apt comparison would be Germany and Austria. Yes they are both ethnically Korean, but Korean has only been unified for about half it's approximately 1500 year history and when it was unified it was often unified in a similar feudal way that Germany and Austria where "unified" in the HRE. The reality is Korea has always been the primary location of proxy wars between China and Japan. The only unified points was when one of China or Japan was strong enough to dominate the whole peninsula. Even the North/South terms are very Western in origin with most surrounding Asian countries having completely different names for the two countries that are as related as "Germany" and "Austria".

On the ground within South Korea, especially towards the south of the country, there just isn't a sense that unification should even be attempted or that the two countries have much in common.

Finally, one of the main reasons China is willing to take a stronger hand against North Korea and support sanctions is because South Korea has been moving increasingly from Japanese/American sphere to the Chinese sphere of influence. Especially under the conservative Park. This more than anything else is likely to spell doom for North Korea.

mc322• 10 years ago

Wait, you're comparing a commissioned body of work with those of tourists and complain the tourists don't take the same kind of pictures?

Is that like saying tourists who come to America and take pictures don't take the same kinds of pictures Robert Frank took?

Or that tourists to Russia don't measure up to Simon Roberts's photographs?

In fact they have a nice vernacular quality to them.

rorykoehler3• 10 years ago

I also found the captions off putting and unnecessary, so much so that I felt compelled to tell him as much on his facebook page.

Having spent a considerable amount of time in eastern Europe (where the photographer is from), it has been my observation that, at least anecdotally, considerably more people from these regions (as opposed to more mature democracies) are emotionally unprepared to look at political issues from a neutral perspective. His comments are heavy with his own experiences and prejudices. It's an understandable reaction to growing up in a repressive regime however it seems highly biased to more neutral observers.

Laforet10• 10 years ago

Thank you, I was trying to say something along similar lines in another comment but you summed it up more eloquently.

novaleaf• 10 years ago

agreed. And actually for me, the pictures are nearly indistinguishable from what I've seen in India and Thailand. nothing shocking about minimalist infrastructure in a 3rd world country unless you have never been out of the 1st world.

tangled_zans3• 10 years ago

That's an interesting comment for me to read as someone born in Eastern Europe. I can sort-of see what you mean from my own experiences, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm guilty of that as well.

What would it mean for you to "look at political issues from a neutral perspective"?

hellofunk2• 10 years ago

I definitely disagree with your interpretation of the photographer's comments. I found them rather interesting and not "cringe". His page is not a tech blog with how-tos on how to use your camera, so if that is what you were expecting, I can understand why you are disappointed. But actually, his page is for showing photographs and sharing information about the country, much of it was rather insightful while brief. The motivated spectator can then google details about your camera's firmware for the next time you travel to North Korea yourself.

Laforet10• 10 years ago

much of it was rather insightful while brief

Much of it was misinformed or plain wrong. The particulars has been extensively discussed in this thread.

The motivated spectator can then google details about your camera's firmware for the next time you travel to North Korea yourself.

The photographer appears to use Nikon SLRs which I am familiar with (I have a Df and has been using Nikon for the past decade). A handful of old models had homebrew firmware patches but it was mostly for shooting video[0]. There has been no new releases since.

Can somebody point me where to look? Googling turned up nothing like what's been described in the linked gallery.

[0]http://www.diyphotography.net/hacked-nikon-firmware-allows-m...

imgabe• 10 years ago

Describing anything as cringe is itself becoming cringe.

Laforet10• 10 years ago

Ghastly would have been a wiser choice of word, but the meaning remains the same.

Shivetya• 10 years ago

Did we see the same page? I am trying to find the offensive wording. If being blunt if offensive then as a society we are failing. Just like some of the old Warsaw pact North Korea is surreal at times. The extent to which they go to control information and what is seen or not seen is not much different than the Soviet Union and Warsaw pact.

I have seen other picture galleries and the stark truth is how empty it all looks, abandoned even. It is the "post nuclear war people coming back and surviving look" that many authors write.

Perixoog• 10 years ago

we see the same set of trains, roads, hotels and attractions that they have really got boring

I'd love to see pictures from the acted scenes (subway) over a series of days, weeks, years. The "travellers" who are leaving every day.

Like The Truman Show.

aws_ls• 10 years ago

I know this comment has been criticized a lot, and rightly so. As the last picture of train station with "elegant men and beautiful women" acting to look the station busy, is by itself so much of a story, as to make me want more of it.

(And I hate that this is the top comment. As its almost off topic, and has utterly non interesting commentary, in contrast to the pictures which offer us so much - again I hark back to the last telling photograph - I will surely be tuned for more photos from this travelogue.)

smhaziq• 10 years ago

Second gallery: http://www.m1key.me/photography/ostensibly_ordinary_pyongyan...

yequalsx5• 10 years ago

Visiting a country with concentration camps is morally reprehensible. His visit helps to finance and prop up the deplorable North Korean regime.

colinplamondon2• 10 years ago

A shocking number of people don't realize just how bad it is there. And that there are, in fact, concentration camps of historically unimaginable sizes operating as we speak.

It's a mixed bag. That morally reprehensible money raises awareness of exactly what's going on, and just how abused their citizens are.

One wonders if, ever there were a just war, it wouldn't be to free the North Koreans.

nyolfen• 10 years ago

And that there are, in fact, concentration camps of historically unimaginable sizes operating as we speak.

the entire population of north korea is ~24m. while i have no doubts that the nork prison camps are hideously inhumane, there's no way they approach the extermination camps in eastern europe of ww2

kbutler• 10 years ago

So it's better to not publicize the conditions and to not contact any of the people inside the country with concentration camps?

The more contact the people can have with outsiders, the better, even if it provides some tiny amount of financial support for the regime.

yequalsx5• 10 years ago

He did not interact with ordinary citizens. As far as I can tell he did not talk to any of the dwarfs he referenced early in the album. Nor did he talk with any of the concentration camp prisoners or with anyone else regarding that topic.

icanhackit• 10 years ago

That's a simplistic view. I'd argue the more you understand something the better chance you have of changing or defeating it. Add to that, the people who reside there have a chance to see and speak with someone from outside without the constraints of state propaganda.

Finally, economic sanctions don't work very well - as demonstrated by Cuba, Russia and North Korea. They hurt the people more than the regime.

yequalsx5• 10 years ago

Would you have vacationed in Nazi occupied Poland given the chance? Khmer Rouge controlled Phnom Pen? Is there a regime so deplorable that doing business with it is morally reprehensible? To me the answer is yes and North Korea qualifi4s.

ars• 10 years ago

You don't deserve to be downmodded for saying that.

But it's not so black and white - I totally understand your position. But if people don't visit no one will really understand how bad it is.

There is no good answer.

I feel so bad for them, I want to do something. War even. I have no ability to. And in any case I don't know if war is even a good idea or not.

But the truth is I only think about it when I see photos like this, then I move on and continue my regular day. These photos need to be constant to have people remember all the time.

yequalsx5• 10 years ago

I understand your sentiment and sympathize with it. I would agree with it if tourists did actually interact with average citizens. They don't though. So I see no benefit to visiting the country. It does nothing other than bring money to their leadership and this is why I have the view that I do.

yitchelle• 10 years ago

On one hand, I can understand your statement. But on the other hand, without much insight into the country, the outside world would have a limited view of the country. These pictures shows how bleak and controlled life is in North Korea. For me, I am glad to have seen these pictures.

Blackthorn• 10 years ago

In case anyone was wondering some of the ways rural Chinese were dealing with the aborted-their-baby-girls problem...

If you're caught escaping by the Chinese, they send you back if you're a man. But the captured women are referred to as "pigs", and sold to Chinese men

rgbrenner• 10 years ago

According to these links: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Lives_for_Sale.pdf https://www.nknews.org/2015/02/when-north-korean-women-becom... http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2012/february/north-korean-...

Women and men caught by China are sent back to NK.

Traffickers in China however will sell NK women.. and will make trips into NK to recruit women.

In fact, once they are in China, it's the threat of being sent back to NK, that prevents them from going to authorities for help.

Wikipedia has some info on human trafficking in NK also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_North_Kor...

necessity• 10 years ago

Beautiful colors. If you didn't mention "firmware" I'd have guessed some professional grade film was used.

taneq• 10 years ago

That'd be one way to do it, just graft the circuit board from a digital camera onto the back of a film SLR. Why yes, sir, I've deleted all of my photos!

jonah3• 10 years ago

A couple rail fans booked a train from Vienna to Pyongyang in 2008.

Their travelogue is fascinating although it can take some effort to wade through the train-schedule minutia and whatnot if you're not into that but well worth it for the uncensored images.

"The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang 윈 - 모스크바 - 두만강 - 평양 36 hours in North Korea without a guide..."

http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/

EDIT: Direct link to skip the European and Russian part of the trip and go directly to crossing the border:

http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/2008/09/irkutsk-skovoro...

Laforet10• 10 years ago

Very interesting read, thanks for posting this.

a_c• 10 years ago

Next time north korea with be confiscating the camera instead..

topspin• 10 years ago

True paradise. No commercial billboards. Few cars. Obesity cured. Low energy use. Cooperative domestic politics. Free healthcare.

And all it takes is a couple gulags. Brilliant.

nikolay• 10 years ago

People think that a more complicated life is better. I like the simplicity of the North Korean life. As I'm Bulgarian, it reminds me about Bulgaria during communism. Choices were simple, life was good, but it wasn't sustainable without the support of the USSR. So, in that regard, I admire NK for managing to cope till now given Cuba pretty much gave in. Don't get me wrong, I'm not supporting the regimes, but I love the simple life that's becoming extinct due to corporations taking over our lives!

sakopov2• 10 years ago

Life in USSR has never been as tough as it is in NK. Maybe in the 30s, 40s and early 50s. Maybe... My grandmother who was born in 1924 in the Soviet Union used to tell me that the Soviets would laugh at the brainwashing that was happening in NK even back in the time when she was a young woman. But I do agree with you. As someone who grew up and lived in USSR for a good portion of my life I often think about the simplistic life of those times. People didn't have everything under the sun as most in Western societies, but it was enough and it was cherished.

lfam• 10 years ago

People are carrying heavy things around the city. They don't even have carts or wagons with wheels.

rdl• 10 years ago

I wonder if the North Koreans who get killed for letting a device slip by them which then is used to mock their security will be told exactly why they're being tortured/murdered, or if it will just happen. :(

jaseemabid• 10 years ago

1984?

sakopov2• 10 years ago

North Korea looks like the Soviet Union of the 1950s. It's just amazing how stuck in time this place is.

easong10• 10 years ago

I went to North Korea in January as an American (incidentally on the same tour as the kid who is currently being detained there and in the same group). As mentioned in the article, Americans can't go on the train, so I can't speak to his experiences specifically, but I have a few reactions to this.

1. He probably didn't need to modify his camera firmware - I took pictures of basically whatever I wanted and they didn't look or care. The only exception to this was the (singular) grocery store, which I thought was hilarious because it was actually pretty nice. (With surprisingly good food, too! I'm still snacking on some of the candies I bought there.) I went on a helicopter ride and took a bunch of pictures of anti-aircraft guns and the like hoping that they would make me delete them and I would have a story to tell, but no such luck.

2. There's a big difference between the different tour companies. Some of them really sold the dystopian totalitarian state experience, with extremely strict guides who yelled at people on the tour and checked everybody's cameras and so on. The people on those tours seemed to have signed up for that experience and were, I think, happy to receive it. My group was drunk off our collective asses literally 24/7, our guides were making dick jokes, a guy wandered off on his own on New Years Eve and didn't get back to the hotel until ~3am after getting in a fistfight with a cab driver, and it was generally a party. It seems to me like the author of this article went in looking for a dystopia to photograph, and the tour company gave him one.

3. North Korea is poor as hell, obviously has a horrible government, etc. If you've been to other extremely poor parts of the globe it's obvious that it's a poor country trying to pretend to be a rich one. The successful example of neighboring South Korea makes their failure to provide for their citizens even sadder. But I would guess total quality of life is comparable or better in the DPRK than many other places I've been. (Somalia, nasty bits of Bangladesh, etc)

4. The citizens and possibly government are (not totally unreasonably) terrified that the US is going to invade and crush them like ants at any given moment. I think this drives a lot of their government's malinvestments.

blackguardx• 10 years ago

How do you square the drunken nature of your tour group with the American student that was detained after presumably doing something he regretted while drunk?

Are you sure they are not related?

easong10• 10 years ago

They're totally related.

That said, it doesn't mean that the paranoia you see in these sorts of blogs is entirely warranted - in my experience NK wasn't particularly interested in oppressing random tourists (they want those sweet, sweet dollars). They will take a great deal of offense if you go in and rip down their propaganda posters, though. :)

ekianjo5• 10 years ago

4. The citizens and possibly government are (not totally unreasonably) terrified that the US is going to invade and crush them like ants at any given moment.

Are you joking ? The US would never do that since China wants North Korea to keep acting as a buffer state against America's influence. Plus, the US has never hinted of any operation in the region.

easong10• 10 years ago

The North Koreans are totally obsessed with the Korean War, and seem to think that the entire world is too. They've convinced themselves that the US started the first Korean war because controlling the Korean peninsula is vitally important for some reason that I can't remember (the propaganda drones on a bit too much). It's a bit silly, but it seems to be what they believe. As an American I obviously don't think we have an all-consuming desire to invade and subjugate the Korean peoples or that it's a major goal of our government.

That said, it wasn't that long ago that North Korea was on Bush's hit list ("axis of evil"), we regularly organize large military exercises preparing for a new Korean war, and we've got all sorts of belligerent rhetoric that a paranoid DPRK intelligence officer would definitely take as a threat. Even confirmed war hawks like Bernie Sanders name them as the biggest threat to the US on the world stage (which is ridiculous, IMO).

jacquesm2• 10 years ago

You are mistaken about the audience of that message. The audience is the people of North Korea, not the outside world, that it has no basis in reality doesn't change that because the people of NK for the most part do not have access to information that will confirm to them that it is not real.

PhasmaFelis3• 10 years ago

Plus, the US has never hinted of any operation in the region.

I agree that we're not at all likely to invade NK any time soon, but GWB declared Iran, Iraq, and NK to be "the Axis of Evil" and then promptly invaded Iraq. To an outside observer, that's a hell of a lot more than a hint.

peterburkimsher2• 10 years ago

I went to North Korea with CYTS back in 2009. I wasn't allowed to take a laptop or mobile phone at all.

My group only spoke Chinese. But they weren't drunk all the time, nor intimidating. They were surprised to see a Westerner in that group, but continued as normal. I think that some of the choreographed activities (e.g. train station actors) were skipped for my group - what little movement I saw on the street seemed pretty legit.

I used data recovery software to get a photo back of a North Korean labour camp in Chegdomyn after a Russian guard caught me and told me to delete it. Maybe I'll upload it some day.

mc322• 10 years ago

My take is neither your nor his journey can be representative of another's journey. So, your experience can differ for many different reasons, from bosses to bribes, to group dynamics to personal circumstances, etc.

So, maybe some of the handlers are sticklers others just don't care. No doubt as there are people into ruin porn [like Detroit or the Ruhr] there are people who think it's neat to get a glimpse of what it's like to visit a desperate place --that does not mean the place is not desperate and a devastating place for the locals and for that reason I would not find blame in people taking "pictures everyone else has already taken".

It does not matter the veneer the person touring is looking for, what matters is the subsurface substance and that is the total backwardness and despair these people experience, just as the people of Venezuela experience at the hands of an inept ruler who blames the [American] "imperialists" or whatever accusation for any misfortune and misgovernance.

This is akin to blaming Christopher Anderson for his take on Venezuela.

newman314• 10 years ago

Which tour group did you use?

jonah3• 10 years ago

No judgement, only honest curiosity:

Why did you visit NK? What were you hoping to see/experience? What did you get out of your visit? Did it meet your expectations going in? If not, how so?

We hear things about hard-to-get-to places like NK but I'm sure it's nothing like being there.

easong10• 10 years ago

Whenever I got home from my previous vacations, my mom would say, disapprovingly, "Where are you going next, North Korea?!". I had a spare week this winter and thought that sounded like a pretty good idea. Also, it's an interesting place that's much maligned (rightly), and I wanted to see it for myself. It occupies a unique place in the modern international mythology.

To be honest, I didn't get a whole lot out of my visit. Everywhere I go, humans are pretty much like humans elsewhere. If you've been to another repressive third-world country and pay attention to posts like this, you have a pretty good idea of what North Korea looks like - its aesthetic form is just more extreme and it's trying to pretend to tourists that it's a second world country. My inner giant-statues fan was pretty pleased. I would say that it met my expectations going in. If anyone is ever in China and has a few days and a few hundred dollars to kill, I would highly recommend it. I wouldn't recommend making the flight just for the DPRK.

My personal takeaway is that I no longer like the hard-line stance against North Korea, don't think the sanctions are a good idea (I did going in), and would rather see them brought into the international community via the inexorable march of global capitalism. I suspect that isolating them only makes them more dangerous to the civilian population and more willing to lash out to the international one. (In other words, they behave like humans everywhere else in the world!)

MzHN• 10 years ago

1. Correct. He has confirmed that he didn't modify his camera firmware. [1]

[1] https://twitter.com/m_huniewicz/status/709674892975874048

jorge-d2• 10 years ago

My bad, I originally found the photos from this french version of an euronews article [1] which states that he “modified the camera's firmware so that the delete button doesn't exactly remove the photos" [2]

[1] http://fr.euronews.com/2016/03/14/rares-photos-ostensiblemen...

[2] "Ses photos, il a réussi à les prendre parfois au su des gardiens guides qui encadrent sans aucune relâche les touristes dans le pays, puis à les cacher de la censure en “modifiant le logiciel de l’appareil photo afin que le bouton effacer n’efface pas vraiment les photos” mais simplement ne les affiche plus."

sedeki• 10 years ago

I am still amazed that NK actually tells people to look like busy travellers at the train station.

swang• 10 years ago

Wait, NK women are sold off to the Chinese if they're caught in China? Is this well known?

hohohmm• 10 years ago

Pictures are okay if not just generic NK photos, definitely not rare, and the captions, wtf?

"At night, the elderly Chinese dance in the streets in unison avoiding any displays of individuality." What is this? To avoid any display of individuality??? I just marvel at this wishful thinking. They do that in unison because it's fun to do activities with other people sharing the same interest. If i'm playing Starcraft with a bunch of friends, am I avoiding display of individuality? Why can't the biased eyes just state the obvious that the elderly are just enjoying themselves.

Honestly I've seen way better NK photos and way better wishful NK journalism. Why is this even on Hacker News?

jecjec3• 10 years ago

Be less hateful. OP has done a wonderful public service.

sriram_iyengar2• 10 years ago

all i see is - less population - no traffic - clear air and very less pollution - farm and live easy - walk and cycle and stay fit - great childhood of enjoying countryside

Overall, they are 117th in life expectancy with 65years+. My greatest and largest democracy as well offers just the same.

Don't get any of this living in the greatest democracy's top Urban city !

skissane• 10 years ago

Are their life expectancy statistics accurate? How do we know?

I suspect most statistics about North Korea are either invented by the North Korean government, or else they are mere educated guesses by outsiders. (I'd imagine various intelligence agencies likely have more accurate educated guesses than those that are commonly available, but those guesses will be kept secret in order to protect the confidential sources used to inform them.)

saiya-jin• 10 years ago

farm and easy life - in reality often famine and extremely oppressive regimes. wtf are you writing about?

sriram_iyengar2• 10 years ago

I'm definitely not writing about wtf

jecjec3• 10 years ago

I can't do it right now but I plead to those of you with the resources and skill to spin up mirrors of this website to do so. I expect imminent problems.

chipperyman573• 10 years ago

Just archive it on archive.org boom instant mirror

hnfmr• 10 years ago

This looks very much like late 1970s, early 1980s in rural areas of China. For me they are reminiscent of my childhood, when rural areas were still not affected by air/land/water pollution.

rasz_pl• 10 years ago

or any Warsaw pact country under Russian occupation at that time.

tiatia• 10 years ago

If you plan to visit: http://www.youngpioneertours.com/

jecjec3• 10 years ago

OP produces possibly the greatest work of North Korean photography;

Comments: "This isn't that big of a deal. I've seen better."

EliRivers• 10 years ago

I've seen better photos. Some of the people on my trip took better photos (I took some pretty clumsy photos; these are better than mine in terms of framing and light and all that sort of thing). These are fine, but to call them the greatest work of North Korean photography is simply incorrect.

l33tbro• 10 years ago

Admittedly an aside, but why the author's little jibe about Sigma lenses being amateur? My 18-35mm outperforms Zeiss and Canon glass that is 3 times its price.

jonah3• 10 years ago

I think he was saying they look amateur. An excellent lens from a "cheaper" brand would be exactly what you'd want to bring to get excellent images without flaunting your wealth/professionalism with the fancier brands.

ReedJessen• 10 years ago

This is the craziest thing I have the read in this recent memory: "Anyone who composes a work that has not been assigned to the writer through this chain of command is by definition guilty of treason. All written works in North Korea must be initiated in response to a specific request from the Workers’ Party."

eulji2• 10 years ago

WOW. What an ignorance.

1) NK's ICBMs program is much more advanced than SK's 2) Young generation is openly doubting the regime 3) There's a lot of smuggling of SK's soap operas and music 4) Their nuclear research is top-notch considering the circumstances 5) All other parties involved (US,China,Japan,South Korea, Russia) are all to be blamed for suffering of 25 millions of people living in an artificial skansen of communism. 6) Praising the great leader is one way how to protect yourself and your family when the "democratic, cool westerners" are not going to help you.

And the guy is openly preaching China for being much more advanced ? NK's regime is scary but the one in China is even scarier. They are pragmatic criminals that embraced the art of trade.

US and SK should have invaded and liberated the NK long time ago. They are as much part of the problem as the NK's leadership is.

justabystander2• 10 years ago

All other parties involved (US,China,Japan,South Korea, Russia) are all to be blamed for suffering of 25 millions of people living in an artificial skansen of communism.
US and SK should have invaded and liberated the NK long time ago. They are as much part of the problem as the NK's leadership is.

I'm glad you're so high on your own morality that you're willing to condemn thousands of people that aren't you to death in starting a war. There's the possibility that economics and the changing international climate will bleed over and convince the populace to change. That's what people have been hoping for - a chance for change with a minimum of bloodshed. A chance to convince rather than force.

Yes, there's debate over whether a long-term peaceful approach or a short-term decisive strike would cause the least "suffering". I get that. But it's not as simple as the US going over to free the shit out of them. China has previously committed to at least partial protection of NK in an armed conflict. And while NK's military power is relatively anemic compared to most of the world, throwing down with China isn't exactly an attractive opportunity. Plus, there's already a lot of negative perception about US intervention in other countries. It doesn't always go well, and it's certainly rarely perceived well.

And then there's all the naive kids that would be dying because you think it's their fault for not doing something about every single thing that goes wrong on the planet. Exactly why should those kids get embroiled in a war as opposed to living their own lives? Even the ones who survive likely won't be able to integrate and function well in society afterwards. Not to mention the harsh effect on the NK and SK populace. Yeah, you can think of it as being like quickly pulling off a band-aid until you realize all the dead people and ruined lives it costs to take the shortcut.

Maybe you should try not condemning other people for ignorance when you're asking thousands to die for your naive internet opinion of global politics. If war's the solution you want, go do it yourself instead of trying to get the rest of us to do it for you.

eulji2• 10 years ago

Are you perhaps joking ? My naive view of global politics is as naive as your moral standard towards poor NK's children.

US is a superpower and if it wants to keep its allies alive it needs to do something for them as well. Your double standards really surprise me.

US cannot afford to loose SK but if the US keeps ignoring the NK/China problem that will push SK more and more to the hands of Chinese.

Sooner or later you will realize that koreans are the bffs of China, Japan feels threatened and there is nothing you can do about that boiling hot pot that formed in the Pacific.

It's not about NK's suffering population at all. Nobody cares about them and that is what's scary.

hellofunk2• 10 years ago

Most interesting comments by the photographer:

"Anyone who composes a work that has not been assigned to the writer through this chain of command is by definition guilty of treason. All written works in North Korea must be initiated in response to a specific request from the Workers’ Party."
"After the Korean War, North Korea was economically a more attractive destination than South Korea, and many people, including 100,000 ethnic Koreans from Japan, were welcomed into North Korea."
"in North Korea you only travel big distances by bus or train, when you get permission."
"This was one of the most strange moments - when we finally arrived in Pyongyang. Through the courtains of the compartment window, we looked at a surreal scene that appeared like something out of a theatre in its perfection and artifice. Elegant men, beautiful women, walking in a simulated hurry, travellers without a reason (ours was the only train that day), all to impress us and so that the station doesn't look empty."

ksrm• 10 years ago

Also check out this person's many photos from all over North Korea: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kernbeisser/

jorge-d2• 10 years ago

A lot of people expressed concern about the title. I just would like to say that it does come from a misunderstanding about the original article I read the story from [1], as I expressed in another comment [2].

I've discovered plenty of North Kore related stories in HN that people already cover in the comments section [3] or other submissions [4] [5].

I thought that given these two points this story would be quite interesting here in HN. As of the title, knowing now that it's not exactly true I let the mods choose a more appropriate one if needed.

[1] https://twitter.com/Dimitri_Jorge/status/709705048150949888

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11288584

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11287297

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5091962

[5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2541189

forgetsusername• 10 years ago

I was mostly struck by a "civilized" backdrop (used loosely) with nary a billboard or piece of litter in view. If I didn't know better, I'd say it looked quiet nice there. But I know better.

dominotw• 10 years ago

I am on my way to get my US Citzenship in couple of years. I've been dreaming about visiting NorthKorea almost everyday for past 3 yrs.

Would visiting NK cause me any trouble getting my US citizenship?

ivanb• 10 years ago

Nice. Here is what I see if I just consider the pictures: very clean cities and countryside, disciplined and healthy people living their simple lives. People work and serve their country. Everyone is poor but equally so. No apparent inequality. People get education and perform arts. Of all poor places on Earth it doesn't look like it is the worst.

So this is how it looks to me if I put aside the usual "North Korea is evil" media context.

b123400• 10 years ago

I went to NK few months ago, while they do check cameras on train, they didn't check anything at all when I leave the country via airport. They call this "internationalization", I felt a little bit stupid for encrypting all the photos I took.

A man overrides his camera's firmware to bring rare pictures of North Korea back

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