Haunting pictures inside North Korea… taken by a photographer who has now been banned from the rogue state for life
Photographer Eric Lafforgue captured the other side of North Korea – the shocking extent of the deprivation suffered by the natives – and paid the price. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un was strongly opposed to anyone seeing these photos, so he asked Eric to delete the ‘offensive’ images that revealed the reality of the country – the brutal life people were forced to live, the isolated towns, and widespread poverty and malnutrition.
Lafforgue says poverty is rare in Pyongyang because only the elite live there but things are tough elsewhere. When he refused and published the photos that showed the human side of North Koreans, and the autocratic nature of the communist state, he was banned for life from the country. Take a look at some of the most ‘offensive’ photos:
This is never supposed to happen: a broom standing on the base of Kim Il Sung’s statue in Mansudae, in Pyongyang.
When you visit families, the guides love it if you take pics to show the world that kids have computers. But when they see there is no electricity, then they ask you to delete.
A visit to a rural home. Those houses and the families who live there are carefully selected by the government. But sometimes, a detail like a bathroom used as a cistern shows that times are hard.
Public transportation connecting the main towns is nearly non-existent. Citizens need permits to go from one place to another. On the highways, you can spot soldiers hitchhiking.
It is also forbidden to photograph malnutrition.
Showing poverty is forbidden, but displaying wealth is also a big taboo in North Korea. In a park on a Sunday afternoon, I found this car that belongs to one of Pyongyang’s elite. The owners were having a BBQ.
The North Korean officials hate when you take this kind of picture. Even when I explain that poverty exists all around the world, in my own country as well, they forbid me from taking pictures of the poor.
This soldier was sleeping in a field. This picture really contributed to me getting banned from the country.
It is forbidden to take pictures of soldiers relaxing.
It’s not a circus, they are workers in a country with low safety standards.
Paranoia is strong in North Korean minds. I took this picture at a funfair of a tired mother and child resting on a bench. I was asked to delete the picture since the guides were certain I would have said those people were homeless.
In the art centre of Pyongyang, we experienced a power outage, a daily event the North Koreans hate to show. When it happens, they tell you it’s because of the American embargo.
The North Korean army is said to be one of the most important in the world. But if you travel there, you’ll often see soldiers doing menial tasks like helping farmers.
Outside urban areas, such a scene is fairly common.
A woman standing in the middle of a crowd of soldiers. This picture is not supposed to be taken as officials do not allow army pictures.
Pyongyang’s subway system is the deepest in the world as it doubles as a bomb shelter. Someone saw me taking this picture and told me to delete it since it included the tunnel.
For a long time, bans against black market sales have been strictly enforced. Grey market vendors are more common. They earn a little money selling cigarettes or sweets.
When times are hard (as they usually are here), kids can be found working for the farming collectives.
When visiting the delphinium in Pyongyang, you can photograph the animals, but not the soldiers who make up 99 per cent of the crowd.
In a Christian church, this official was dozing off on a bench. You must never show the officials in a bad light.
