North Korea is preparing to launch a satellite into space, which will coincide with the 100th anniversary of founder Kim Il-sung's birthday on April 15. The notoriously reclusive nation, under new leader Kim Jong-un, has invited journalists to attend the launch in an attempt to curb international criticism over North Korea's violation of a previous agreement not to test or use ballistic missile technology. The launch is being viewed as a cover for developing a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. Indications of an upcoming underground nuclear test only deepen concerns over the nation's self-proclaimed peaceful space program.
While the launch is no doubt a source of anxiety for North Korea's neighbors and other world powers, it has provided an opportunity for journalists to get a glimpse of the communist Hermit Kingdom, limited though it may be.
Reuters photographer Bobby Yip has been granted access by the North Korean government to take pictures of various parts of the country. The Kim regime is certainly trying to present the country in the most positive light, so most of the photographs are of the capital Pyongyang, where most of the North Korea's wealth is disproportionately concentrated. However, there are a few shots of the countryside that reveal the underlying societal disparities in a country dealing with a host of issues from environmental degradation, food shortages and economic instability.
Click the slideshow to have a look inside North Korea.
Thousands of residents celebrate at a square during the inauguration of a mosaic portrait of Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang April 9, 2012.REUTERSNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (2nd L) talks with military personnel in front of a monument commemorating Kim Il-Sung, founder of the North, as he visits the Navy Unit 155 of the Korean People's Army in an undisclosed location in this undated picture released by the North's KCNA in Pyongyang April 6, 2012KCNA/REUTERSNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) visits the Navy Unit 155 of the Korean People's Army in an undisclosed location in this undated picture released by the North's KCNA in Pyongyang April 6, 2012. KCNA/REUTERSNorth Korean flags flutter as decorations in the capital is underway four days before the centenary of the birth of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, in Pyongyang April 11, 2012.REUTERSA woman in traditional Korean costume watches as a student leaves a swimming pool of Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang April 11, 2012.REUTERSStudents study in a library at Kim Il-sung University in Pyongyang April 11, 2012.REUTERSA waitress at a restaurant watches a state media television broadcast of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attending a party meeting in Pyongyang April 11, 2012.REUTERSWomen work in the Kim Jong-suk Pyongyang Silk Mill in Pyongyang April 9, 2012. The factory is named after the wife of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.REUTERSA group of North Korean visitors listen to a guide at Mangyongdae, the birthplace of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, in Pyongyang April 9, 2012.REUTERSA guide speaks to a group of North Korean visitors at Mangyongdae, the birthplace of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang April 9, 2012.REUTERSSchoolgirls leave a square after the inauguration of a mosaic portrait of the late leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang April 9, 2012.REUTERSRepresentatives stand in front of the mosaic portrait of founder of North Korea Kim Il-sung (L) and the new portrait of the late leader Kim Jong-il during an inauguration ceremony in Pyongyang April 9, 2012.REUTERSA villager stands with her bicycle in front of a farmer in a field northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERSThe 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel, the highest building in North Korea, may finally open in Pyongyang next year.REUTERSThe 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, the highest building under construction in North Korea, is seen at dawn in downtown Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERSSmoke rises from a plant at dawn in downtown Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERSLunch is prepared for visitors on a train heading to the launching site of Unha03 in between fields northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERSA conductor displays flag signals to a passing-by train outside a station featuring a portrait of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERSWomen walk past a building with a slogan which reads "Long live the great Juche Idea!" in downtown Pyongyang April 8, 2012. REUTERSNorth Korean students perform during a meeting of school youth and children themed "The dear Generalissimo Kim Il Sung is our eternal sun", one of festivities timed for the 100th birth anniversary of Kim Il-Sung, founder of North Korea, in front of Kim's statue at Changdok School in Pyongyang April 6, 2012 in this picture released by the North's KCNA on April 6, 2012.KCNA/REUTERSA visitor poses with a soldier on guard in front of the Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket sitting on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site, during a guided media tour by North Korean authorities in the northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERSA man walks outside a village at a hillside, northwest of Pyongyang, April 8, 2012. Picture taken April 8, 2012.REUTERSVillagers work in a field northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERSVillagers travel in a truck in a field northwest of Pyongyang April 8, 2012.REUTERS
