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Yannis Kontos: North Korea

Image Copyright © Yannis Kontos - All Rights Reserved
Yannis Kontos studied photography in Greece and received his MA degree in Photographic Journalism at the University of Westminster in London. He gained international recognition in the field of photojournalism and collaborated with the French-based Sygma and Gamma international agencies, and with the U.S.-based Polaris Images from its inception. Over the last decade, Kontos has covered the recent wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as all the major stories around the globe. He has received 19 awards to date, including first prizes in the World Press Photo Competition, LIFE magazine's Alfred Eisenstaedt Awards, Pictures of the Year, NPPA's "The Best of Photojournalism" and was twice awarded as European Press Photographer of the Year.

He traveled in North Korea as a tourist, photographing surreptitiously during his trip.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was created by the Soviet Union in 1945 after WWII when the defeated Japanese lost control of the Korean Peninsula. The new country stood opposed to the other new country, South Korea, backed by the United States: two states manufactured during the Cold War.

I found it to be an interesting photo gallery, principally because it opens a window onto a country that most of us don't know. However, I found its editorial introduction on Digital Journalist to be rather thoughtless, with unecessary political overtones. North Koreans have suffered greatly under the Japanese occupation, have suffered from the North-South split, and are still suffering enormous hardships...another proof that economic sanctions/blockades are never effective and lead to nothing but hardship for those who least deserve it.

The Digital Journalist's gallery of Kontos' North Korea images.