Shopping In North Korea

shopping in north korea

This image was captured by renowned documentary photographer Tomas van Houtryve who entered North Korea by posing as a businessman looking to open a chocolate factory.

Despite 24-hour surveillance by North Korean minders, he took arresting photographs of Pyongyang and its people. They show stark glimmers of everyday life in the world’s last gulag.

What you see above is shopping in North Korea.

The clerk sits in the dark, unheated special store, waiting to turn on the lights for foreigners, the only permitted customers.

She’s wearing a ski jacket type parka; the rest of this time they’re sitting there with the lights off, freezing.

The goods are toys, televisions, and the like are imported from China. The store only accepts Euros.

See more photos and commentary from Tomas van Houtryve’s trip.

Posted on April 20, 2009 | Filed Under Life