• Ng Han Guan / AP

    A soldier watches as a woman pulls at a red carpet during a send-off ceremony for a North Korean leisure boat carrying Chinese travel agents and foreign journalists to promote Kumgang mountain resort tourism from the port in Rason city, North Korea. Photo taken on Aug. 30 and made available today.

    North Korean semiotics: red carpet, or red rag to a bull?

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    We reported on the inaugural trip of the Mangyongbyong cruise liner here on PhotoBlog last week - see the post, All aboard for cruising, North Korean style - but this additional picture that the AP moved today caught my eye with its intriguing, confused symbolism.