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Few Westerners get the opportunity to travel to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. For those who haven't, Oliver Wainwright’s recent book of photography, Inside North Korea (TASCHEN), provides a decent substitute. The book is based on Wainwright’s 2015 trip with Koryo Tours, the Beijing-based tour company led by Nick Bonner (whose own book about the design of North Korea we’ve written about previously).
Wainwright, who serves as the architecture and design critic at The Guardian, has an eye for the elegant lines and imposing geometry of the built world. His photos are often sparsely populated at best—a guard here, a bicyclist here—making Pyongyang look like a theatrical set waiting for its actors to arrive. We get little sense of the everyday life of the city (few foreigners do), instead focusing on the grand, monumental architecture and colorful design on view in the North Korean capital.
The book is divided into six sections: city views and housing, monuments, museums and the arts, sports and education, leisure and hospitality, and the Pyongyang metro. Here are a few of the incredible images featured inside.