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North Korea is a rather mysterious country. Due to political reasons, it has a low degree of openness to the outside world, which makes it impossible for the outside world to understand the life of the North Korean people.
Although North Korea has opened up foreign tourists to enter the country for tourism in order to promote economic considerations, tourists are not allowed to take photos casually, including the location of taking photos, equipment for taking pictures, etc., so it is still difficult for the outside world to understand the local situation in North Korea.
Michael Turtle is a journalist for over 20 years who has travelled the world since 2011.
His footage records the daily life of the North Korean people, giving us a glimpse into it.
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For Pyongyang, life is certainly better than in rural areas.
At special events, such as playgrounds and FIFA football matches, people can often be seen holding mobile phones and digital cameras, but this is not common on the street.
The streets of the North Korean capital, which are indescribably quiet due to the few pedestrians and vehicles, are home to 3 million people. Michael Turtle even thinks it's a bit like a post-apocalyptic scene from a movie.
However, the old buses and trams were packed with people (apparently they did not have cars).
When Michael Turtle took the subway during rush hour, it was also packed inside.
In a department store down the street, Michael Turtle found no customers inside every time he drove by, just a lone waiter standing behind the counter.
Unlike the ordinary capital, the streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, bars.
Pyongyang has gray concrete apartment buildings, but at night, many windows are dark, not known because of power shortages or unoccupied.
In some of the lighted apartments, you can glimpse simpler interiors, with prominent photographs of North Korea's leaders hanging on the walls.
An even more impressive building is the Children's Palace, where schoolchildren learn music, sports and art after school.
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Outside the capital, the grandiose buildings have largely disappeared.
Green corn and rice fields stretch from the road to the mountains on the horizon. The countryside is lush and green.
As far as the eye can see, there are people engaged in manual labor, the degree of mechanization is not high, and field work still relies on human labor.
There are also no cars on the streets, and transportation relies more on bicycles.
Large red and white slogans are erected in the fields and mountains, encouraging everyone to work harder for the good of the motherland.
Some houses on the side of the road, which look relatively old.
Some people who left North Korea described the hardships there, including the lack of food, but because the tour guide limited Michael Turtle's range of activities, he did not see similar scenes, except that the locals seemed to be relatively thin and life seemed to be more monotonous.
But when Western tourists like Michael Turtle pass by, North Koreans are always happy to smile and wave at them.
The day Michael Turtle left Pyongyang was North Korea's National Day, with celebrations of singing, dancing and games in the park, and thousands of people dancing in the square at dusk.
In these moments, Michael Turtle felt their indifference and joy.