The modern-day North Korea is an eerily mysterious place simply because you have to move mountains to get an entry into the country. That it’s rampant with poverty, censorship, dictatorship and the worst kind of human rights violations is a fact well known. Yet several journalists and photographers who have had the chance to visit North Korea (or just its capital city Pyongang which is the only developed city in the country) claims that it’s a hermit kingdom, a part of a big set up, a reality that dictator Kim Jong-Un wants to present to the travelers or the tourists. Imagine living in your own ‘The Truman Show’ under the clutches of a personality that both Stalin and Mao would approve, a place that’s completely closed off to the outside world—that’s North Korea for you.

So, when a photographer visits the place and clicks illegal photographs and then smuggle it outside to show you the harsh, convoluted and an unfiltered life of the citizens of the country, you know it’s supposed to be a big deal. This is what Polish photographer Michal Huniewicz actually did.

“I visited North Korea and took these photos, most of them illegal, so you could get a more candid look into the most mysterious country on the planet. I was told I would be detained in case photos like these were found (‘You took many photos. Too many,’ – said my guide), but I managed to smuggle them out of the country, which was very stressful.”

He apparently managed to shoot the photographs from his hip when no would see. “We had an American in our small group, he was attracting a lot of attention, which allowed me to photograph more easily. I used a Nikon D300s with a 24-70 mm, which isn't really a good combo.”

Check out his first set of photographs here.

1) Military personnel in the capital city of Pyongyang. They are, apparently, present everywhere.

2) On your left is North Korea and on your right is China. The difference between the two sides is definitely striking.

3) The difference that’s even more prominent in the night.

4) According to Michal, there are several of these forms that one has to fill after they have entered the country.

5) Michal’s first photo of the place from the train, something that’s prohibited in North Korea.

6) These are the people waiting to sell human waste so that they can be later used as fertilizers.

7) “(The Korean Workers’) Party is never going to forget the comrades of Rakwon [city]”

8) A bus full of North Koreans travelling within the country. You need a permit to even travel in the country.

9) North Korean soldiers patrolling the place.

10) Rural countryside.

11) This is where things start to get real creepy. “Arrival in Pyongyang. I believe this was staged, as there were no other trains that day, so those elegant looking travellers had no reason to be there.”

12) “Pyongyang – we were intercepted by our guides, who we could not leave during the entire stay, and who’d tell us when to sleep and when to wake up.”

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13) Some more people on the streets of Pyangyong.

14) Brutalist architecture of an old, worn-off building.

15) The cityscape from his Yanggakdo hotel.

16) The hotel in which the photographer was staying had no official 5th floor. You have to use the stairs to access that floor. “The door is almost always closed, but if you manage to get in, the place is full of propaganda posters, and people speculate it’s used for spying on the guests.”

17) According to Michal, they did not interact with the locals at all. In fact, even the waitresses in his hotel seemed to be slightly terrified of the tourists.

18) Kim Il-Sung’s square, the only place that they really want you to photograph.

19) “Those allowed to live in Pyongyang are privileged, and wear a badge that is impossible to buy (you can get a fake one in China).”

20) This photograph is technically forbidden because you need to photograph both the statues in their entirety.

21) “I had 15 seconds to take this picture. This shop is for the locals only, and I was kicked out of it by my guide soon after taking this photo, but he didn’t see me taking it.”

22) Souvenirs to buy that are widely available for the tourists.

23) Pyongyang is a relatively clean place but they were not allowed to walk anywhere. “Within maybe a minute or two from leaving the train we were all squeezed into a minivan that would be our second home for the entire stay. Although it’s okay to take your smartphone with you, there will be no reception and/or Wi-Fi anywhere. Your phone will be thoroughly searched on your way out.”

24) Shit hits the roof when they take your passports away, not allowing you to vanish from their sights at all. “There was hardly any traffic, but they took our passports away and forbade us to go anywhere on our own in case we participate in a car accident.”

25) North Korean workers.

26) Pretty sure that the man is flouting the rule and can be subjected to fine (or more) if caught.

27) Some of the socialist murals, probably the only kind of murals you’ll see in abundance in North Korea.

28) People travelling to work.

H/t- Bored Panda

Facebook/Michal Huniewicz

All Photos © 2016 Michal Huniewicz www.m1key.me