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RE: Travel stories #3: North Korea (DPRK) - Pyongyang; entry of the Hermit Kingdom (#3 NK)
Wow! Pyongyang looks so great there! I'm curious: How did you take photos? I've heard that photos are not allowed in that country.
You are allowed to take pictures, but also have to obey the guidelines given by your guides (e.g. you are not allowed to take photos of military, of NGOs working in the field, at the border, etc.). Video is even more restricted. You are checked upon leaving the country (at the airport).
Damn! :/
Woah! So do they actually go through your camera and look at your pics? What if you took a nudie lol!
Haha! Yes they take your camera at the airport and go through some of the pictures (obviously they can't check all these hundreds you have made!). They will scan for sensitive pics and delete... In addition, not all cameras are allowed, in particular they look at the size of your lenses.
Wow. Total invasion of privacy. That's crazy. And the internet... they don't have it do they? So, for ex, you couldn't upload to a cloud and then delete, right?
Must be like living in 1995 :)
No, foreigners generally do not have access to the internet in North Korea. You have to hand in your phone upon arrival at the airport, and you will only get it back once you leave the country. However, locals in Pyongyang do have access to the internet - they actually have 3G networks, but only in the capital (and for the upper elite).
But what do they do with their internet connections?
They are connected to the Intranet - not Internet! They can view government posts and some filtered news websites. It is a way for the government to control its population. Pretty insane.