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TOKYO – Americans may now be banned from going to North Korea as tourists, but thanks to the power of the internet, you can now see what it’s like to fly over the showcase capital of Pyongyang.

Aram Pan, a Singaporean photographer who has published lots of 360-degree videos from his trips to North Korea, flew over Pyongyang in a microlight plane last month, filming video and taking photos the whole way.

They take off from the Mirim Air Club on the outskirts of the capital, an airstrip built under Kim Jong Un, who’s a keen pilot and often flies himself around the country. Lots of other light aircraft can be seen alongside the runway.

The video offers amazing views over the capital, home to the two million North Koreans most loyal to the regime, which is infamous for keeping the country isolated.

There’s a bird’s-eye view of the central monuments of Kim Il Sung Square and the Juche Tower, the impressive-looking apartment towers of the Mirae Scientists’ District and Ryomong Street, two of Kim Jong Un’s landmark development projects. That’s without even mentioning the sparkling blue of the Munsu water park or the shining silver roof of the May Day.

It’s a bright sunny day and the sun glistens off the Taedong River that bisects the capital, the fields look green and lush.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

Pyongyang looks like a modern and thriving city – which is exactly what the North Korean regime wants people to think that it is.

The Kim regime is notoriously restrictive in what it allows outsiders to see. Visitors to Pyongyang are always accompanied by government minders and are restricted in their movements around the city. They don’t pass sensitive sites like the leader’s residence or security offices, often taking the same routes through the city no matter what direction they’re going in.