Photographs: Daily Life in North Korea

The following photographs depict Daily Life in North Korea.

It is difficult for the outside world to access images and information about present-day experiences in North Korea. Intelligence regarding the daily life in more devastated regions of the country is especially difficult to obtain because the North Korean government sensors foreign visits and misrepresents its national reality. North Korean government “minders” (surveillance agents) escort diplomats, international aid workers, and foreign tourists to the wealthiest and most pristine areas of the country.  Most images of North Korea that are released by the North Korean government attempt to celebrate the seeming affluence of North Korea’s capital city (Pyongyang), and the vibrant colors of Korean culture.

We present these images understanding that for photographs of North Korean daily life to be taken, they most likely represent the least-devastated and most-affluent experiences within the country.  However, even with this caveat, we believe that these photographs are quite revealing, particularly in looking at North Korea’s archaic agricultural processes and substantial need for infrastructure and economic development.

Electricity in North Korea.

This photograph highlights the lack of electricity use and energy infrastructure in North Korea, in high contrast to South Korea.

According to the US Department of Defense and GlobalSecurity.org, North Korea is Dark.  South Korea is bright.

“This amazing image is included in the standard US Department of Defense briefings on North Korea. It was mentioned in a news briefing on 23 December 2002 by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, who stated: ‘If you look at a picture from the sky of the Korean Peninsula at night, South Korea is filled with lights and energy and vitality and a booming economy; North Korea is dark.’”

Agriculture in North Korea.

The following photographs, taken by the World Food Programme, depict North Korean agricultural work.  From these pictures, we see the diligence with which North Korean farmers tend to their fields, as well as the manual nature of North Korea’s agricultural system.  The lack of agricultural development and agro-technology certainly effects North Korea’s perpetual food shortages.

The following photographs depict a building in North Korea that was being rebuilt.  The photograph depicts the tools available to North Koreans (carts pulled by animals, bicycles).

The following photographs depict the World Food Programme’s initiative that enlisted North Koreans –who are ready and eager to work– to dig out a roadway.  These “economic development initiatives” were tentatively received by Kim Jong Il’s regime, but are highly monitored by the North Korean government to ensure that North Koreans and international aid workers have minimal interactions.

This photograph depicts flooding in North Korea in 2007.  Flooding certainly damages crops and infrastructure.  However, such damage attributions are consistently inflated by the North Korean government.

While floods may exacerbate famine, floods do not create famines.

Food aid to North Korea.  North Korea consistently receives food aid from generous international sources.  Total humanitarian assistance to North Korea from 1996 to 2005 peaked in 2001 and totaled over $2.43 billion, not including informal aid and aid from China. From 1995 to 2003, formal assistance to North Korea from the U.S. alone reached over $1 billion.  The following photos depict food aid deliveries to North Korea in 2008.