DPRK

Elsewhere in the DPRK

Kaeson city near the border with South Korea and the centre of North Korean ginseng production. The photo is of Thongil Street, a main thoroughfare...

This is the six lane Reunification Highway between Kaesong and Pyongyang – the road is deserted apart from military checkpoints. The service station was surreal although preferable to many in the UK.

Mount Paekdu is a sacred site to all Koreans, north and south as the mystical founding place of the nation. The lake is one of the deepest in the world and sits inside the extinct volcano. The mountain railway car was out of order so access to the top was achieved by walking up the railway line – an arduous march to the 2744m peak. Surprise, surprise Mt Paekdu is the birthplace of the Dear Leader and a sacred revolutionary monument where the Great Leader and his guerrilla army were based in the second world war.