AFP photographer Ed Jones has been capturing everyday life in North Korea for several years. As one of the few Western journalists allowed to enter the secretive state on a regular basis, his access has generally been restricted to what the regime wants the world to see: Pyongyang's wide boulevards and pretty traffic policewomen and the country's regular choreographed mass propaganda events venerating its leaders past and present.
However, he recently took a trip along North Korea's eastern coast up to the Chinese border, photographing the harsh realities of life in the poverty-stricken rural villages along the way. His photos show a world far from the gleaming skyscrapers in the showpiece capital. People wheel bicycles along unpaved roads; children pull handcarts loaded with firewood and animal feed; and farmers wash vegetables in polluted streams.
People cross a railway track between the cities of Hamhung and WonsanEd Jones/AFPPeople push bicycles along a street on the outskirts of Hamhung on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPeople push bicycles along a street in Hamhung on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPeople pull carts carrying vegetables in Hamhung on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPFishing boats and industry are seen along the coastline north of HamhungEd Jones/AFPCorn is hung out to dry over a door on a house between Hongwon and Riwon on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA man carries harvested crops between Hongwon and Riwon on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA man guides a cattle-pulled cart along a track near Riwon on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPeople walk through the town of Kimchaek on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA woman sits on a roadside near the town of Kimchaek on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPeople cross a bridge near the town of KimchaekEd Jones/AFPA woman walks before houses in a village near Kimchaek on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA man stands outside an apartment building in Kimchaek on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA woman and child pull a cart loaded with wood along a road near Kiliju on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPChildren pull a cart loaded with wood along a road near Kiliju on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA train passes a field near Myongchon on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA train passes a herd of goats near Myongchon on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPChildren stand on a road near Orang on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPCyclists pass along a road on the outskirts of the industrial city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPeople cycle along a street in the industrial city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPropaganda posters are seen on the outskirts of the city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPCyclists pass along a road in the city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPeople push bicycles across a street on the outskirts of the industrial city of ChongjinEd Jones/AFPPeople cross a street on the outskirts of the industrial city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA man pushes a bicycle past a factory in the industrial city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPChildren stand beside a railway track in the industrial city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA woman pushes a cart along a street in the industrial city of Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA woman stands on a roadside between Raksan and Chongjin on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPChildren walk along a frozen river near Raksan on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPPeople wash cabbages in a river near Raksan on North Korea's northeast coastEd Jones/AFPA man waits to cross a street in Rason, at the northeastern tip of North KoreaEd Jones/AFPRa In-Hae, 46, stands outside her new home in a development for people who lost their old homes to flooding, near the city of RasonEd Jones/AFPA man walks along a dock at the port in RasonEd Jones/AFPPeople cross a public square in Rason, near the Chinese borderEd Jones/AFPA truck makes its way across a bridge over the Tumen river marking the border between North Korea (bottom) and China (top) and enters the Rason Special Economic ZoneEd Jones/AFP
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AFP opened a bureau in Pyongyang in September 2016, allowing Jones to travel from Seoul to Pyongyang (via Beijing) every six weeks or so, spending up to 14 days at a time there.
Jones told IBTimes UK: "Covering North Korea presents a number of unique challenges. Access to places, events and people is often restricted. Photographing daily life is very much a priority. Even the most mundane events or outings can often yield worthwhile images that, taken together, provide some insight, even if the wider picture is often obscured or out of view completely."
