David Guttenfelder, a Japan-based Associated Press photographer, along with Jean H. Lee, AP’s Bureau Chief in Seoul, were granted special access to parts of North Korea that the outside world has rarely seen.
Both were in North Korea to experience and take part in efforts to expand coverage inside the isolated communist nation, they snapped at least 37 pictures.
North Korea Is Ready For War (PHOTOS)
David and Jean are among the few Western journalists who’ve been allowed into North Korea during a period of heightened tensions that began three years ago with the shooting death of a South Korean tourist.
Their journey allowed them to document and capture the true essence of North Korea, since it became a communist state in 1948.
Jean told the AP, “Everywhere I look, communist North Korea is a world both foreign and familiar to my Korean-American eyes, a place where the men wear Mao suits and children tote Mickey Mouse backpacks, where they call one another “comrade” and love their spicy kimchi.”
Take a look at a rare glimpse inside North Korea and for more photos, click here.
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North Korean soldiers, foreground, and North Korean traffic police, background, tour the birthplace of Kim Il Sung to pay their respects at Mangyongdae, North Korea, on April 13, 2011.
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On April 13, 2011, two female North Korean soldiers hold hands as they tour the birthplace of Kim Il Sung at Mangyongdae, North Korea.
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A large statue of Kim Il Sung sits in the entrance to the Grand People’s Study House in Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 9, 2011.
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On April 21, 2011, men operate a manual rail car on tracks running along the West Sea barrage near Nampho, North Korea.
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North Korean workers rebuild the roof of a structure at the Pohyon Temple at the foot of Mount Myohyang, North Korea, on April 19, 2011.
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On April 17, 2011, a man walks near a stand of rural housing outside of Kaesong, North Korea.
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Women perform a dance routine with badminton rackets at an event to mark the birthday of Kim Il Sung at a park in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 15, 2011.
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A woman sits at a small table selling snacks on the roadside along the West Sea Barrage near Nampho, North Korea, on April 21, 2011.
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Students swim and play on a water slide at a pool facility at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 13, 2011.
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A statue known as the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, which symbolizes the hope for eventual reunification of the two Koreas, arches over a highway at the edge of Pyongyang, North Korea.
