Electricity shortages that cause blackouts are common all over North Korea and occur even in the capital of Pyongyang. In this photo, all the city lights are out due to no electricity being available at the time. However, one thing is still lit up – a picture of the beloved North Korean leader.
A North Korean citizen may claim that this is proof of their leader’s divinity, while a skeptic may argue that all it takes to make this happen is a handy citizen with an electrical generator.
The people are hungry
The North Korean propaganda machine is very sensitive about showing the world their poor and starving citizens. They try to maintain a façade of success, strength and happiness with carefully crafted publicity shots. This photographer managed to take a picture of a North Korean worker who is clearly malnourished and suffering from iron deficiency brought on by lack of food.
This was a very dangerous photograph to take, if the photographer was caught, he could be put in a concentration camp for his “crime”.
Indoor plumbing?
This photo of a bathroom was taken inside an average North Korean home. The photographer managed to snap it while evading his official tour guide for a precious minute. The picture shows the bathroom’s plumbing system which as you can see does not exist.
A hand pump for pumping underground water is clearly seen, with the water being pumped into a bathtub. However, this water is not used for bathing, it is drinking water and the bathtub is actually an in-house water storage tank!
Hitching a ride
Since public transportation is not a real option in North Korea, locals must hitchhike in order to travel undetected. Drivers who are lucky enough to own a personal car or drive a company car, like in this photo, often use their vehicles to take hitchhikers where they need to go, for a small fee of course.
These small “businesses” are quite dangerous since any kind of private enterprise is illegal in the Hermit Kingdom.
Lights out
Despite its reputation as a worker’s paradise, most of North Korea does not have reliable power, with rolling blackouts hitting the country on a regular basis. Things have become even worse since China refuses to import North Korean coal, meaning the Hermit Kingdom is having real trouble keeping the lights on.
If you look at a satellite image of the world at night, you will see a giant dark spot where North Korea should be.