In a Nutshell: I visited North Korea in late 2014 and over 16 days ventured to all corners of this mysterious nation on one of the longest itineraries ever executed for foreigners. Here are 100 photos (part 1) taken during this visit to North Korea.
About: I’m Elliott. I’m the tour director at North Korea tour operator Uri Tours. I travel a lot myself, sometimes to the unusual, weird and wacky. Earth Nutshell is where I share my experiences. Interested in visiting North Korea for yourself? Shoot me an email at [email protected].
Want to visit North Korea for yourself? I can help. I’m the tour director at Uri Tours, a North Korea tour operator. For inquiries you can contact me directly at [email protected].
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Poor souls of North Korea, may they one day be set free!
Lovely pics! I would love to make some paraphrase illustrtions of some of these photos. Would that be ok with you? Thank you for sharing!
Sure, I’d love to see the result!
The streets seem to be empty. I presume they have few cars and hardly any traffic jam. Is my assumption correct?
Comparatively to any other major metropolis, Pyongyang has very little vehicle traffic. It doesn’t help that the boulevards are wide and clear of clutter, it makes it look truly empty. In saying this, there are far more cars on Pyongyang now than the stereotype would have us perceive. Private car ownership has exploded in recent years and some intersections in Pyongyang do sometimes get clogged in ‘rush hour’. Outside Pyongyang, there’s far less, and owning a car as a regular citizen is a pipe dream. Traffic jams outside Pyongyang are usually caused by bicycles! 🙂
A real eye opener…you did a fantastic job brother…and a brave one as a matter of fact…
Hi there. Your photos and captions we’re fantastic. I’ve always been fascinated by North Korea. But, I am in fact American soooo I’ll never visit.
Thank you so much
Thanks Nate! Don’t be so quick to dismiss a visit, Americans are perfectly welcome to visit the DPRK on tours just as any other nationality except South Koreans. It’s also perfectly safe as long as you are heading there to break the law, for example ripping up your tourist visa on arrival to claim asylum, hand out bible tracts on the sly or steal important propaganda posters. The idea perpetuated by the media of tourists being arrested for no reason and held as political pawns in North Korea is a misguided one.
Very well done with discrete yet telling commentary. I can see some similarities to a visit to Cuba several years ago.
DO u have a tips to visit NK? i like all ur articles..how to get in..if im going like a backpacker..i want to see more about their attraction places like zoo,amusement park, they have cinema?
Great photos and brought back memories from our plane spotting trip to the DPRK in May. We must have visited the same restaurant in Pyongyang as a I recognise the painting of Mt Peaku. Returning to the Kyoro Hotel that night, we were advised that the public areas had been taken over by the party congress, so could we please go straight to our rooms – this was 8pm ! Coming from St Andrews, I did ask our guide if there was such a thing as a Golf Course in the DPRK, and she assured me that there was – I am not sure I believed her, but I do now ! In fairness to the DPRK, the people were very polite and incredibly generous with what they had – as a group we had no problems at all.
You have a great camera, awesome sense of humor and composition. When I say your sense of humor is keen, it’s not like jokes, but you know how to capture the irony in a picture, the oddness of North ‘Korea, and just what to share and report about. ‘Look at this oddly beautiful thing.’
The people rarely seemed to smile. It’s got to be somewhat odd how Americans grin for their pictures, to the point of absurd fakey-niceness, but the sour faces in these images was also absurd.
I looked at each ans every photo and really soaked it in. Thank you very much. I’m not less curious now – I’m MORE curious!
Should turn your pics. into book. Don’t know how you did it!