Between decaying factories and deteriorating housing blocks, glimpses of daily life emerge as North Koreans scrape by, earning a living through timber hauling and burning crop fields. In a particular town, two cargo trucks patiently await on a bridge leading into China—a symbolic gesture of the revival of cross-border trade vital to Pyongyang’s stagnant economy.
A border bridge links the Chinese town of Changbai (left) with North Korea’s Hyesan. Photo: AFP
Amid vigilant guards, portraits of the ruling Kim dynasty oversee the population, while grandiose propaganda banners extol their socialist doctrine. One massive slogan, prominently displayed in red and white on a hillside, boldly declares: “Our country is the best!”
Established in 1948 under Kim Il-sung as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), North Korea was shaped by stringent Marxist-Leninist ideals.
North Korean soldiers patrol the Yalu River in Chunggang County, visible from Linjiang in China’s Jilin province. Photo: AFP
With a population of approximately 26 million, North Koreans lead a predominantly secluded existence within the austere communist state, restricted from traveling abroad without government authorization and exposed to state-controlled media broadcasting propaganda glorifying the nation and its supreme leader.
The nation’s self-imposed seclusion is primarily rooted in the principle of “juche,” or “self-reliance,” advocating for complete autonomy and detachment from the global community.
North Koreans set fields ablaze, as observed from Tumen in China’s Jilin province. Photo: AFP
In reality, this approach has done little beyond stifling the country’s economy and commerce, resulting in widespread poverty and acute food shortages among its populace. According to the CIA, North Korea “remains one of the world’s most isolated nations and one of Asia’s poorest.”
The country’s chronic food insufficiencies are believed to have worsened during the pandemic, prompting authorities to fortify border defenses to prevent defections to the neighboring affluent nation.
Since the 1950s, an estimated 31,000 North Koreans have sought refuge and defected to [unspecified destination].
The North Korean town of Chunggang, adorned with a sign proclaiming “My country is the best,” as viewed from the vicinity of the Chinese border town of Linjiang. Photo: AFP
This figure notably surged last year amidst what the unification ministry in Seoul described as “deteriorating conditions in North Korea.”
Pardo’s photographs, capturing North Korean soldiers gazing across a frozen river towards China and occasionally descending from looming watchtowers to patrol border paths lined with barbed wire and sharpened sticks, offer a rare glimpse into life within one of the world’s most secretive communist regimes.