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David Guttenfelder / AP
In this Tuesday Oct. 11, 2011 photo, North Korean soccer fans react after their team missed a goal during a World Cup qualifying match between North Korea and Uzbekistan, in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder has made five trips to North Korea this year. Here's a slideshow from his recent travels, and his comments about the trip are below:
During a reporting trip to North Korea last month, AP Seoul Bureau Chief Jean Lee and I asked to visit one of the country's largest shopping centers: Pyongyang Department Store No. 1. Inside the crowded four-story building, drab, domestically produced goods were stacked on racks all around us. There were unsteady pyramids of rain boots and dozens of women's bras stapled to a wall. On one TV among a bank of sets for sale, a video of leader Kim Jong Il astride a galloping stallion played on a loop. Everything felt strange to me.
But then I saw something familiar. I saw a father with his young daughter in a bright pink jacket riding the escalator. As they reached the 4th floor, the man playfully lifted his little girl in the air by her wrists and then set her safely down over the last moving stair. It was something so natural, so universal. I have young daughters and I do the same on escalators. I felt a connection, and took a picture.
David Guttenfelder / AP
In this Sunday Oct. 9, 2011 photo, a North Korean man lifts his child up as they arrive at the top of the escalator at Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea.
Photographers all over the world use feature pictures and street photography to try and say something meaningful about regular people's lives. It looks simple, but I think it is one of the most important things we do as photographers. It is even more important in a country like North Korea, where decades of isolation have left it a mystery to most of the world. The responsibility of opening a window into life there - even if we open it little by little - is something I take seriously.
David Guttenfelder / AP
In this Monday, Oct. 24, 2011 photo, North Korean commuters look out from the rear window of a trolley car in Pyongyang.
Between the two of us, Jean and I have made 19 trips to North Korea.
This was our fifth together in 2011. North Korea has little experience with foreign journalists, and there are limits to what we are allowed to see. Our goals for each trip have been modest, but each time we try to find ways to understand, and explain the country better.
Leave a Comment:
boy i have seen some staged pictures before but none like these talk about posing for the press
people are people usa n korea africa iran canada , its the goverments that seperate humans & divide us into rich and poor in turn they will feel the wrath of the coming worldwide anti goverment protests, im sick of regulation ,inflation, central banks and corporate policys than limit a persons ability to achieve absolute divinity
When all this ends and the people (if they are still alive) of North Korea see the truth of the world, not that crap the evil little troll feeds them, it's gonna be amazing! Can you imagine what emotions those people will go through?
Axis of Evil" as described by George W. Bush:
Ah Yes, The Axis of Evil. WE took one off the list, now we are going after another one. When will this B.S. end? I hope Obama can steer this country clear of war for a few years, we really need to concentrate on matters here in the continental USA.
I feel bad for the citizens of N. Korea. I hope they can change from within, shame the old man died, he did seem to be on a path of peace at the end of his life.
for folks who freak out when america gets criticized, relax. the reason americans criticize our country first before badmouthing north korea is b/c we have the power to change what we think is wrong HERE.
what can we do about north korea? you can write all the bad things you want about NK and how horrible it is, but in the end we can't change their president or make sure ppl get food.
if you don't like that we are the richest country in the world with a large population of poor people you can do something about it. if you don't like that people are on food stamps or on welfare you can also do something about that. it won't be solved overnight, but you can start working to end what you dislike with other americans.
hate north korea? you have no power to do anything about it.