North Korean Photo Archive 

I came acrossthe most amazing collection of North Korean photographs today in this DPRK Flckr group. There are over 20 thousand photos of a country that is trying very hard not to be seen. A great deal of these look like they were taken invisibly under the great leader’s nose. The people seem to all be amicable though. If they only knew what the rest of the world was like.

Some of the videos shot from cars or buses are curious in how utterly blank existence must be there. No stores. No ads. No variance. Nothing to complain about because there is nothing.

I’m also intrigued by the details of collective farms. This video shows a wood burning truck shot covertly from a hotel room. This is also the first time I’ve seen close ups of the people’s ingenuity there. Even depots can’t stop people’s ingenuity no matter what.

I try to be an optimist but perhaps this is what the western world will look like one day when the oil economy collapses. I guess we’ll always have natural gas wells and Iphones. We’ll undoubtedly have chips in our heads by then and be living in solar cities and under the shadows of massive windmills.

Some of my other favorites include this sweet mobile propaganda unit so you can get the RIGHT message even in the fields.

Another is this creepy Space Shuttle rip off that’s in a children’s museum. There is something almost sci-fi about the North Korean emblem on a spaceship.

I am convinced that the imaginary or allegorical Blissville would look something like this, only a bit more smoky and bombed out. I believe you need clearance or a pass to even leave a city in the DPRK. The countryside outside of Blissville would look just like this though.

– XFP