Photographer Fabian Muir has traveled to North Korea five times over the past two years, visiting not only the much-photographed capital city of Pyongyang, but more than a dozen other smaller towns. Photographing North Korea remains a challenging task due to restrictions placed on all visitors, especially photographers. Two or three government minders accompanied Muir whenever he left his hotel, steering him while acting as guides. Under these restrictions, Fabian tried to show as much of North Korean life as he could, balancing images heavy with statues, monuments, and mass performances in Pyongyang with more intimate shots of farmers and children in outlying villages.
Looking for North Korea
- Emily Anne Epstein and Alan Taylor
- October 9, 2016
- 20 Photos
- Spotlight
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Children play in a public swimming complex in Pyongyang on May 3, 2015. #
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Morning fog shrouds a tenement building in Pyongyang on January 17, 2014. #
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Schoolchildren wave during an outing in Hamhung, North Korea's second largest city, on August 23, 2014. #
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A view of the Golden Lane bowling alley in Pyongyang on May 1, 2015 #
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A man exits the changing rooms at a beach near Wonsan on North Korea's east coast on August 22, 2014. #
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Pyongyang locals enjoy a picnic on May 1, 2015. #
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Commuters stare at Muir through the train window in the Pyongyang metro on August 20, 2014. #
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A man receives traditional cupping therapy in a Pyongyang health complex on October 10, 2015. #
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Students dance during an event in Kim Il-sung Square, Pyongyang, on May 1, 2015. #
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Men fish through ice near Sinuiju on January 14, 2014. #
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Koreans pay their respects to statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at the Mansudae Grand Monument in Pyonyang on October 9, 2015. #
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Diners eat at a high-end restaurant in the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang on August 25, 2014. #
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Soldiers celebrate on a mobile rocket launcher after a parade for the anniversary of the Workers' Party in Pyongyang on October 10, 2015. #
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Schoolchildren play on a slide in the schoolyard of a co-operative farm in rural North Korea on May 3, 2015. #
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A newlywed couple poses for a photograph near Pyongyang Folk Park on October 11, 2015. #
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A waitress places a battery-powered light on a table during a power outage in Chongjin on April 23, 2015. #
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Villagers haul a boat over wooden rollers in outer Chilbo on April 24, 2015. #
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Rollercoaster riders brace for lift-off at Kaeson Youth Park in Pyongyang on August 18, 2014. #
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People gather on a railway platform in provincial North Korea on June 9, 2016. #
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A farmer stands on a drought-ridden field in rural North Korea on May 3, 2015. #
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