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Σάββατο 15 Οκτωβρίου 2016

Η φωτογράφος που απαθανάτισε κρυφά τη ζωή στη Βόρεια Κορέα

<p>The North Korean government is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-look-at-north-koreas-tightly-controlled-internet-services-2014-12?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=referral">notoriously secretive</a>. Upon entry to the country, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-it-like-in-north-korea-2015-10?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=referral">visitors are instructed</a> on what they can and cannot take pictures of. Customs agents inspect your cell phone and other digital devices, including cameras, tablets, and storage cards, for banned content.</p><p>These restrictions prompted Getty photographer <a href="http://www.xiaoluchu.com/">Xiaolu Chu</a> to travel by train through the country in August 2015, documenting everyday life through her phone lens. She explained to Tech Insider that whipping out her DSLR camera was too risky in some of the villages, where the locals reported sightings to the police.</p><p>While some images were deleted during run-ins with the police, Chu shared the remainder of her trip with us. Here's what it was like.</p>Chu took the long way around during her visit to North Korea.
Most Chinese tourists enter by train through Sinjiju or by plane through Pyongyang. She instead traveled to Russia so she could access the port at Tumangang.





The train ride from Tumangang to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, lasts a day. It was canceled because of a dispute between North Korea and South Korea.




"Fortunately we had a whole day to go out and take some pictures in the village," Chu says.




She saw scores of people living in abject poverty. Many begged for money.



"There are nearly no fat people in North Korea, everyone looks very thin," Chu says.




Many of the residential buildings looked run down and in need of repair.



When she later returned to the train station, she noticed portraits of the country's former leaders and the words "long live" scattered throughout.



The next day, she boarded a train for the nation's capital.


A customs agent on board checked her tablet to make sure it wasn't GPS-enabled. The government also jams signals as a security measure.



He also checked her laptop and DSLR camera. Chu says the agent had no trouble operating the devices — with the exception of the MacBook.


The train chugged along, giving Chu snapshots of everyday life. This boy was collecting corn cobs beside the tracks.


Many people rode bicycles, as seen at a railway crossing en route.

Some scenes were quaint. Children took an afternoon dip in a river.


But anytime the train pulled into a station, there were painful reminders of the poor living conditions. This little boy begged for money at a station in Hamhung.

Korean People's Army soldiers rested on the tracks.
Several locals reported her to the police. "A policeman and a solider stopped us and checked our cell phone. I hid most of the pictures, [but a] few pictures were deleted," she says.


We asked Chu if she was scared of retribution for publishing her photos.

"No, absolutely not," she said.


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