The Kingdom under the Sun

When I was standing at the top of the Tower of the Juche Idea, below the 20-meter-high red glass flame that rises from a great golden base, the North Korean capital of Pyongyang stretches out beneath me as a pastel-colored panorama. It is a rolling field of tower blocks painted in terracotta and yellow ochre, turquoise and baby blue, punctuated by the novel silhouettes of landmark buildings designed with a distinctly sci-fi air. It looks as if someone has emptied a packet of candy across the city, sugary pastilles jumbled up with jelly spaceships.

The capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea isn’t the monotonous grey world that you might expect it to be. I spent a week in North Korea in April 2016 during which people were celebrating the Day of Sun, the birth anniversary of their first President Kim Il Sung. This series of photos is an attempt to offer a glimpse behind the closed doors of the Hermit Kingdom, providing a snapshot of the ordinary people’s life in the country.