How to be a clueless fashion magazine in one easy step

How to be a vacuous and morally void magazine is far too simple. Here’s Human Rights Watch’s Iain Levine with the story: What were they thinking?…  Someone, somewhere in the depths of luxury magazine Elle thought it was a good idea to feature “North Korea chic” in September’s edition of the magazine (the page… was subsequently…

North Korean horrors make us realise true meaning of depravity

Sometimes I read something that puts the notion of human rights into perspective. This story about a man who escaped from a North Korean gulag is shocking beyond belief. It sounds like hell on earth: His first memory is an execution. He walked with his mother to a wheat field, where guards had rounded up…

North Korea like you’ve never seen it

It’s the most tightly controlled nation on the planet. Yet in this fascinating dispatch by Jean H. Lee, The Associated Press bureau chief in Seoul (who traveled with David Guttenfelder, AP’s chief Asia photographer), signs of a country in transition: At Kim Il Sung Plaza, a determined young man in a blue suit scoots by…

And we thought Gaza was isolated

On the surreal world of North Korea: Even at seven-thirty on a Wednesday night, the restaurant is packed to overflowing. A few minutes after being seated, a waitress glides up to the table bearing glasses and frosted bottles of Tiger beer; in a few swift motions, glasses are filled and small dishes of Korean appetisers…

Life inside a Pyongyang university

This is a truly remarkable film. Two film-makers received exclusive access to the Pyongyang University of Cinematic and Dramatic Arts and were able to follow the lives of some highly privileged North Koreans in service to the Dear Leader:

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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