I copy and pasted most of this, I just thought it was worth a share.
Artemii Lebedev, one of the leading web-designers in Russia, recently went on a trip to DPRK. Here are some of his photos. With translations from a guy on edodo.org, the Air Force Academies underground comic book and forum.
On your arrival at the airport you need to leave your cellphone, no roaming service is avaliable but if you select an operator manually you get PRK 03 although he never saw a single person with a cell-phone. Laptops are allowed it seems that north koreans are not aware of cards that can make your laptop to work like a cellphone.
The only house where a foreigner will be ever allowed on his visit. It's a model-house of a model-farmworker of a model-collective farm. There is even something that looks like a computer, made of components that are not even plugged together. Internet does not exist, only intranet is available.
On your arrival you will be assigned to a guide and a driver. That will constantly follow you. You can't leave the hotel on your own. The daily program consists of 2-3 visits to a landmark. In the hotel you can watch BBC,NTV (russian chan),and a couple of chinese channels, so you can't really complain about freedom of speech. The food is good, and you can't complain about that either. In a park he saw elder women picking up herbs, the guide said that it was for the rabbits, although it was clear that it was the kind of herb that the "owners of the rabbits" could eat.
you see people selling some kind of a vegetable, that was taken next to a fruits and veggies store, they immediatly closed the door as they saw a tourist.
North Koreans are always amazed when they see a white man.
The plaster statues are clean and not broken apart. North Korea is a perfect reproduction of the year 1950.
They still havent figured out how to make flat glass withtout bubbles, the only exception are the windows in the hotel or large vitrines.
Oil is almost non-existant, so much of the labor is manual.
Water seems to only be readily available in major cities, this woman is cleaning her clothes in a little stream.
Life in a village.
When building in a city they tend to block the old houses with tall bulidings , if that is not possible they put a concrete fence so you would only see the roof.
As soon as you try to take a picture different from the magazine "Korea" the guide will say: "why are you taking a picture" "it's forbidden here"
Koreans are not shy when it comes to basic needs, the guide forbid to take pictures of men taking a piss on the middle of the road, but there was no problem when it happened in the capital next to to a monument (look at the guy on the steps)
The big monument, (they cut off the electricity at 11)
The city at night is scary, there is no light on the streets and people use white lights and no curtains.
The whole Pyongyang is like this, when he asked the guide about the old houses the guide said that old people didn't want to move out in the new ones and like it that way
The mausoleum
You have to button up your shirt and look serious, and leave eveything except your sunglasses at the entrance, you will have to go trough an x-ray scanner (which no one tells you about), and for some reason there is a wi-fi router. The statue is white, and the light on top is blue and on the bottom is red. And its called a "visit" because the Great Leader is still "alive"
About 10% of the population serves in the military, its impossible not to cross soldiers.
They do everything, taking care of the cattle, picking up wood, and ride 40 persons in a truck
As a form of entertainement both Koreas will take you to a visit to the border. Look at the difference in the roads.
The border.
In various roads all across NK there are these blocks on the sides of the road, preparing for invasion, used to stop tanks and trap them.
Just in case they put those things up on every road in the radius of 50km from the border, they are often decorated.
NK defends itself not only from imperialist agressors, every neighborhood is defended. Once by a coincidence, he took a picture of that building with AC on every window. Of couse he was told that he's not allowed to take the picture. Apparantly this is not an ordinary house, maybe scientists live there.
The only ads in NK, an advertisment for a car (made in cooperation with the South) that you will only see in the capital, there are 3 different banners/models.
Banners with Kim Il, who calls up people for heroic acts. For some reason Kim is young.
You can often see pictures of Kim Jon Suk (wife of Kim Il) Like his composition is called "Comarade Kim Jon Suk is saving Kim Il), but Kim Il is shown even more often
Bronze is often used in the monument, here you can see the worker, the farmworker and the intellectual.
In every place you will have a Pole with a citation of the great leader.
Every citizen has a pin of Kim Il, except for little children, waiters (the pin is probably hidden by work clothes), and Kim Il himself
You cannot buy this pin.
That means that a food joint is near, by the way even in China they draw a fork.
Everyone is walking, sometimes they take packed public transportatins made of tramways, trolleys and even 2 storie buses. The bicycles are rare and expensive.
The pedestrian zebra is original.
In Pyongyang there is a lot of underground passages for crossing the street, everyone respects the rules, if you cross the street where you're not supposed to you get a fine, even if the road usually looks like this.
Traffic signs warn you of other traffic signs.
The drivers never stop in front of pedestrians, they constantly honk. The guide coulnt not explain the lack of reflex of the pedetrians when they hear a car. In the countryside people walk wherever they want, like there is no cars at all.
You can't move freely in NK, you need authorisations, and you have check-points everywhere. When the car crossed teh check point, the driver flashed the lights, perhaps its a meaning that a foreigner is on board.
Traffic lights exist but they dont work.
What the cars look like.
Portait of Father and Son (to be found in every home)
And thats another village, but those houses don't exist in NK, the driver took a "wrong turn."
Sometimes you get to see a martian landscape.
The hotel, construction was abandoned in 1991, its not recomended to take pictures of it when you're close.
Whatever.
Koreans have the habit to walk with their hands behind their back, men rarely wear light and flashy colors. Thats an excusion to the cemetary of the revolutionaries.
A rare view of the city.
Wow.