NORTH KOREA: The Photographs Kim Jong Un Doesn't Want You To See by Photographer Eric Lafforgue

Since 2008 Eric Lafforgue has ventured to North Korea six times. He managed to smuggle the images out of North Korea on SD cards that he was forbidden to take or was told to delete by his minders. His images offer a rare glimpse into everyday life in the hermit kingdom. ( via wimp.com)

“I was banned after my last trip in September 2012 when I published some photos on the web. The North Koreans saw them and asked me to delete them as they judged them too offensive. I refused as I thought it was unfair not to show the reality of the country."~Eric Lafforgue 

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

It's illegal to show photos, such as these, of repression and struggle.~Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

It's also illegal to photograph the poor. ~Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

"On the day of the Kimjongilia festival, thousands of North Koreans must queue up to visit various monuments." ~ Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Citizens require permits to travel from town to town. ~ Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Interestingly, it's also forbidden to show images of opulent wealth. ~ Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Normal supermarkets are a luxury. ~ Photo by Eric Lafforgue

showing soldiers at ease is not permitted. ~ Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photographs depicting malnourishment are banned. ~Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photo by Eric Lafforgue

"When visiting the delphinium in Pyongyang, you can photograph the animals, but not the soldiers who make up 99 percent of the crowd." ~  Eric Lafforgue

A broom leaning against a statue of Kim II Sung would be a punishable offense. ~ Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Even a common photo like this is forbidden and photographers will be approached by guards to delete it.  ~ Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Photographers are, however, encouraged to photograph people using (1980's) computers. ~Photo by Eric Lafforgue

It's forbidden to photograph Kim statues from the back. ~Photo by Eric Lafforgue

Think you have difficulties commuting to work? This is the line to get on the bus. ~  Eric Lafforgue

"In the art centre of Pyongyang, we experienced a power outage, a daily event the North Koreans hate to show. When it happens, they tell you it’s because of the American embargo."  ~ Eric Lafforgue

Fantastic Time Lapse of North Korea's Capital ~ "Enter Pyongyang"

Take a tour through Pyongyang, the Capital of one most secretive and mysterious nations in the world today.


*Watch in HD full screen*
Enter Pyongyang from JT Singh on Vimeo.

“Enter Pyongyang” is a stunning collaboration between city-­branding pioneer JT Singh and flow-motion videographer Rob Whitworth. Blending time-lapse photography, acceleration and slow motion, HD and digital animation, they have produced a cutting‐edge panorama of a city hardly known. (via Vimeo)

WELCOME TO PYONGYANG ~ Photographer CHARLIE CRANE Goes Inside North Korea

Born in London in 1975, Charlie Crane became an advertising and editorial photographer when he was 20. His has photographed campaigns for Sony and Ford, and his editorial clients include the New York Times magazine and W. Crane won the Kodak Gold Award as 'best portrait photographer' of 1998 and exhibitions include at National Portrait Gallery, London.


Charlie Crane's large-format photographs of Pyongyang, the capital city of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, were taken on three visits between 2005 and 2006. His landscapes and portraits are presented here in the manner of a guidebook. Welcome to Pyongyang is an impressive collection of pictures he took in the capital city, a place he described as a ‘Stalinist Disneyland’, where he related the life and portrayed the landscapes of one of the most secretive nations on Earth.