All foreigner-oriented tours display a carefully managed, intentionally curated side of the country; with no opportunity for cross-examination, such visits don’t facilitate a journalistic treatment of life in North Korea.

A walk through the Yonggwang Metro platform, the jewel of Pyongyang's underground train system. The underground stations are ornate but dimly lit: patrons squint to read posted newspapers while patriotic music echoes faintly across the stone floor. Mosaics and metallic reliefs extolling the virtues of North Korean workers and landscapes line the walls, while inside the cars, smiling portraits of past leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il look down on passengers.