One of the saddest things about life in North Korea is that everyone but the Elite North Korean Soldiers is on the edge of starvation. Most people do not have enough food to eat. This is a simple tragic fact about daily life in North Korea. This fact alone makes Korea a sad, dark, and even cruel place to live.

Another horrible fact is that North Korea is a completely closed society.  North Koreans really have no idea about what the rest of the world is like since there has been almost no communication between North Korea and the rest of the world, since the end of the Korean War. Actually, it was an armistice that brought hostilities to a halt in 1953 — but there's never been a treaty to end the conflict between North Korea (and its chief ally China) and South Korea and its allies, namely the United States. It is rare for North Koreans to travel outside North Korea.

Not only is North Korea a closed society it is a communist state with some of the most draconian control of any state that ever existed on the face of the earth.  If a family member is caught reading the Bible, the whole family is put in jail.  Even Hitler was not as barbaric as this. Children are taught in school to report and spy on their parents for the good of the state.  Individuals have no rights other than to serve the state.  The complete lack of individual freedom in North Korea is grotesque and appalling.

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Here is a series of surprising images that attempt to show how different life is in North Korea, compared to the rest of the world. All bets are off when it comes to what is considered "normal" in North Korea.

The fleet of North Korean airline ‘Air Koryo’ at Pyongyang Sunan airport. Air Koryo is the only airline rated by Skytrax as ‘one-star’, and until 2010 was banned from flying into the EU after failing to meet regulatory safety standards.

In the countryside in North Korea, buses, as we know them, don’t exist.

 

Dog meat soup. I passed. There were many specialty dog meat soup restaurants in Pyongyang, it’s so prevalent that the North Korean government regulates the price. We found a dog tooth inside one of these soups.

 

More images to come.  I am having technical errors.

Thank you.

 

John Lombaerde