Photographer Eric Lafforgue doesn’t like taking casual photos that North Korean government wants the outer world to see. He traveled as a casual tourist, secretly taking pictures of the country’s everyday life. In 2012, however, because of these photos he was banned from entering North Korea forever.
A Woman Standing In The Middle Of A Crowd Of Soldiers. This Picture Is Not Supposed To Be Taken As Officials Do Not Allow Army Pictures
When You Visit Families, The Guides Love It If You Take Pics To Show The World That Kids Have Computers. But When They See There Is No Electricity, Then They Ask You To Delete!
Soldiers Often Help On Local Farms
This Kind Of Picture Is Widespread In The West. The Caption Often Explains That North Koreans Eat Grass From The Park. The Guides Get Furious If You Take It
A Rare Example Of An Undisciplined Kid In North Korea. The Bus Was Driving In The Small Roads Of Samijyon In The North, When This Kid Stood In The Middle Of The Road
The Way You Dress Is Very Important In North Korea. In Town, You’ll Never Find Anybody Dressed Poorly. On This Day, Students Were Dancing In A Park. When I Asked To Take A Picture, The Girl Asked The Man To Straighten His Shirt
As Cars Have Become More Widespread In Pyongyang, The Peasants Are Still Getting Accustomed To Seeing Them. Kids Play In The Middle Of The Main Avenues Just Like Before When There Were No Cars In Sight
Pyongyang’s Subway System Is The Deepest In The World As It Doubles As A Bomb Shelter. Someone Saw Me Taking This Picture And Told Me To Delete It Since It Included The Tunnel
Perhaps The Most Ridiculous Prohibition I Faced: This Official Painter Was Working On A New Mural In Chilbo. I Took The Picture, And Everybody Started Yelling At Me. Since The Painting Was Unfinished, I Couldn’t Take The Picture
It Is Forbidden To Photograph Malnutrition
When You Sleep In Kaesong, Near The Dmz, You Are Locked In An Hotel Complex Composed Of Old Houses. It Allows The Guides To Say “Why Do You Want To Go Outside? It’s The Same As In The Hotel.” No, It’s Not
It Is Forbidden To Take Pictures Of Soldiers Relaxing
When Visiting The Delphinium In Pyongyang, You Can Photograph The Animals, But Not The Soldiers Who Make Up 99% Of The Crowd
On A Little Lake On The Way To Wonsan, This Fisherman Uses A Tire As A Boat
Queueing Is A National Sport For North Koreans
The Pionners Camp Of Wonsan Is Often Visited By Tourists To Show The Youth From All Over The Country Having Fun. But Some Children Come From The Countryside And Are Afraid To Use The Escalators Which They’ve Never Seen Before
In A Christian Church, This Official Was Dozing Off On A Bench. You Must Never Show The Officials In A Bad Light
A Visit To A Rural Home. Those Houses And The Families Who Live There Are Carefully Selected By The Government. But Sometimes, A Detail Like A Bathroom Used As A Cistern Shows That Times Are Hard…
This Soldier Was Sleeping In A Field
The North Korean Officials Hate When You Take This Kind Of Picture. Even When I Explain That Poverty Exists All Around The World, In My Own Country As Well, They Forbid Me From Taking Pictures Of The Poor
One Night, On The Way Back To The Hotel My Bus Had To Take An Alternate Route Due To Street Closures. As We Passed By Old Buildings, The Guides Asked Me Not To Shoot With Flash. The Official Reason Was “To Avoid Scaring People”
Only In North Korea: I Was At A Factory Shooting With My Tv Crew. We Were Followed By A Local Cameraman Who Filmed Throughout The Trip (On The Right). On This Day, The Government Sent Another Cameraman To Film Us All! Very Meta
It’s Not A Circus, They Are Workers In A Country With Low Safety Standards
You Can Find All Kinds Of Food And Drinkin Pyongyang’s Two Supermarkets Where Things Are Sold In Both Euros And Wons. They Even Have Evian Water. Only The Elite Can Shop There
Brand New Restaurants Have Opened Along The Taedong River In The New Center Of Pyongyang. Only The Elite Can Afford To Eat There For The Equivalent Of Few Euros. The Sturgeon I Had Was Actually Very Tasty
This Man Was Taking A Rest On The Rocks By The Sea In Chilbo. My Guide Asked Me To Delete This For Fear That Western Media Could Say That This Man Was Dead. He Was Alive
It Is Absolutely Forbidden To Take A Picture Of The Kim Statues From The Back. It Is Considered Very Rude
Something You Can See Often In North Korea, But Still Forbidden To Photograph
When Times Are Hard (As They Usually Are Here), Kids Can Be Found Working For The Farming Collectives
Paranoia Is Too Strong In North Korean Minds. I Took This Picture At A Fun Fair Of A Tired Mother And Child Resting On A Bench. I Was Asked To Delete The Picture Since The Guides Were Certain I Would Have Said Those People Were Homeless
In The Art Center 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
There Are A Lot Of Tired People Since Many Have To Ride Their Bikes For Hours To Go To Work In The Fields. Taking Pictures Of Them Is Forbidden
For A Long Time, Bans Against Black Market Sales Have Been Strictly Enforced. Grey Market Vendors Are More Common. They Earn A Little Money Selling Cigarettes Or Sweets
Public Transportation Connecting The Main Towns Is Nearly Nonexistent. Citizens Need Permits To Go From One Place To Another. On The Highways, You Can Spot Soldiers Hitchhiking
This Is Never Supposed To Happen: A Broom Standing On The Base Of Kim Il Sung’s Statue In Mansudae, In Pyongyang
A Very Rare Picture Of A Wheelchair. In Six Trips, I Saw Only Two Of Them
Thousands Of North Koreans On The Day Of The Kimjongilia Festival, Queuing Up To Visit Various Monuments
Showing Poverty Is Forbidden, But Displaying Wealth Is Also A Big Taboo In North Korea. In A Park On A Sunday Afternoon, I Found This Car That Belongs To One Of Pyongyang’s Elite. The Owners Were Having A Bbq
The Officials Took Issue With This Photo For Two Reasons: 1) The Teen Has His Cap Worn In A Strange Way (According To My Guide), And 2) There Are Soldiers In The Back
On This Day In Spring, People Had Put Some Carpets To Dry On The Banks Of The Taedong River. Since There Was A Kim Il Sung Statue In The Back, Taking Picture With Those Carpets Was Forbidden
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