The Land of No Smiles

Renowned documentary photographer Tomas van Houtryve entered North Korea by posing as a businessman looking to open a chocolate factory. Despite 24-hour surveillance by North Korean minders, he took arresting photographs of Pyongyang and its people -- images rarely captured and even more rarely distributed in the West. They show stark glimmers of everyday life in the world's last gulag.

BY TOMAS VAN HOUTRYVE | APRIL 15, 2009

CANARY UNDERGROUND: No one knows how many people live in Pyongyang; estimates place the population at up to 3 million. Two subway lines and 17 stops serve the city. Built by the Army in the 1980s with cars bought from Berlin, the metro has stops named for revolutionary concepts, like Jonu (comrade), Puhung (rehabilitation), and Rakwon (paradise).

 

Tomas van Houtryve is a Paris-based freelance photographer.

 

MADISON

3:01 PM ET

April 5, 2010

Photos of North Korea widely available

The comment that "photographs of Pyongyang and its people -- images rarely captured and even more rarely distributed in the West" isn't really true. It's easy to get into DPRK in a tour group and many people have posted pictures online of their trips. Go to flickr.com and search on DPRK or North Korea.