North Korea @ Flickr

Have you watched A State of Mind?

I did, when it was aired on television a couple of years ago. The documentary followed the lives of two young gymnasts in North Korea, their families + a few other people. It was sad to hear them blame Americans for power outages and my heart ached for the children who practiced (and practiced, and practiced, and practiced) so hard for their performance in the Mass Games parade, in hope of pleasing “Dear Father” Kim Jong Il who was too busy to show up that day.

I strongly encourage anyone to buy/borrow/rent the DVD and watch it!

I hope to visit the country like Eric Lafforgue, a photographer who went to Pyongyang (twice!) in 2008, as a tourist. He shares his pictures through his North Korea set at Flickr. He shows the places he was permitted to go and the scenes he was made to see. One of his pictures included a flash card display (above) during the Mass Games to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Workers’ Party.