The Land of No Smiles, a glimpse into Pyongyang, North Korea

Tomas van Houtryve, famous for reporting desolate conditions from beyond borders where others rarely go, recently entered North Korea under the guise of a businessman looking to found a chocolate factory in the area. What he photographed within Pyongyang's walls is simply despressing. It's sad that countries exist that are still ran this way. Have a look at the photography collection here.

Source foreignpolicy.com

What about the depressing problems here? Why aren't they photographing that?

You assume that people are accepting it here in NY but that's not necessarily the case.

That being the case, nobody would ever like to live there...

Too bad for the residents of this place. It seems sad, boring and even scary.

That's a really interesting and risky bit of photojournalism there. For some reason I want to go there. I want to run down the deserted street and do something crazy and make them smile or even laugh.

What? I don't think there's ANY comparison to be made between New York and Pyongyang. We're talking about a country (North Korea) that can't provide it's population with basic necessities of life.

Regardless of what you think about DUH MEDIA (whatever the hell that actually means), it's better than a state-run media - any day. North Korea's citizens are kept in the dark, figuratively and literally.

What are the depressing problems in the U.S. (or any free country) that compare to living in a tyrannical communist state? And which of these so-called problems aren't being photographed?

Agreed, I know we have issues in the Homeland, but I recommend that anyone feeling that we're any type of comparable read up a bit more on the current situation in Pyongyang.

It hurts my soul that someone believes our country is on the same level. We certainly have issues to be addressed, but we're still worlds of separation apart.