Summertime in North Korea: Students, Tourists and Chillout

Sputnik invites you to look beyond stereotypes and enjoy the glimpse into the daily life of one of the most mysterious and closed countries in the world in the summertime.

North Korea is not only about regular missile launches, military parades, its leadership and life under sanctions. North Korea is its people, who, just like us, have their personal worries and joyful days.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A photo taken on July 24, 2017 shows a group of university students walking on a street in Pyongyang.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

A woman carrying a parasol crosses an overpass where a residential building is seen in the background on July 26, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

A school boy walks among soldiers at the end of a work day on Tuesday, July 25, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

In this July 21, 2017, photo, a man stands near the pathway leading to where an unexploded bomb was found near the railway which runs through Hamhung from Pyongyang to the northeastern port of Chongjin. North Korea is just one of many countries still dealing with the explosive legacy of major wars. But the three-year Korean War, which ended in what was supposed to be a temporary armistice on July 27, 1953, was one of the most brutal ever fought.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A group of tourists bow before statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-Sung (L) and Kim Jong-Il (R), on Mansu hill in Pyongyang on July 23, 2017.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A photo taken on July 24, 2017 shows a man leaning from the balcony of an apartment building in Pyongyang.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A tourist takes a selfie during a visit to a subway station in Pyongyang on July 23, 2017.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

A man rows his boat in a lake at a rest stop in Sinpyong along the Pyongyang-Wonsan highway on July 22, 2017, North Korea.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

University students wearing traditional Korean dresses wait in the rain for the start of a mass dance on July 27, 2017, in Pyongyang.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

A young girl plays on a safety rail at the carpark in front a local department store on July 23, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

The evening sunlight falls on the face of a North Korean woman as she rests by the Pothong river on July 23, 2017.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

North Korean men and women attend a Chinese language class at the Grand People's Study House on July 24, 2017, in Pyongyang.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

In a photo taken on July 22, 2017, a worker checks the temperature of molten steel during production at the Chollima Steel Complex, south-west of Pyongyang.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A photo taken on July 25, 2017 shows a group of North Korean visitors taking photos on a viewing deck of the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

A man carries his daughter as they leave the Pyongyang Circus on July 25, 2017, in Pyongyang.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A photo taken on July 25, 2017 shows snack vendors in an underpass of the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A photo taken on July 23, 2017 shows pedestrians waiting at the entrance to a subway station of the Pyongyang metro.

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© AP Photo / Wong Maye-E

People consume drinks at a bar counter of a snack room at the Grand People's Study House on July 24, 2017, in Pyongyang.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A photo taken on July 22, 2017 shows a man eating at a table outside a restaurant in Pyongyang.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A tourist takes photos before a group of people gathered to pay their respects before statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il on Mansu hill in Pyongyang on July 23, 2017.

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© AFP 2023 / Ed Jones

A photo taken on July 24, 2017 shows two girls sheltering from the rain beneath umbrellas near a village on the outskirts the town of Sinchon, south of Pyongyang.

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© AP Photo / Jon Chol Jin

People react while watching a news broadcast on a missile launch in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, July 29, 2017.