“Taking pictures in the The Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is easy, but if you come too close to the soldiers, they stop you. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“As cars have become more widespread in Pyongyang, the peasants are still getting accustomed to seeing them. Kids play in the middle of the main avenues just like before when there were no cars in sight.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“A rare example of an undisciplined kid in North Korea. The bus was driving in the small roads of Samijyon in the north, when this kid stood in the middle of the road.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“On this day in spring, people had put some carpets to dry on the banks of the Taedong River. Since there was a Kim Il Sung statue in the back, taking pictures with those carpets was forbidden.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“Thanks to digital memory cards, I was able to save photos that I was forbidden to take or was told to delete by the minders”, Eric said. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“This kind of picture is widespread in the west. The caption often explains that North Koreans eat grass from the park. The guides get furious if you take it.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“The Pionners camp of Wonsan is often visited by tourists to show the youth from all over the country having fun. But some children come from the countryside and are afraid to use the escalators which they’ve never seen before.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“I went to Chongjin, a city in the north that suffered a lot from hunger few years ago. My camera was confiscated for the duration of the bus trip. Once at the hotel, I understood why when I saw the people in the street.”Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“Never take a picture where you can see people doing silly things in front of the Kim portraits”.Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

Skinny Young Boy Raising Hand, Hamhung, North Korea. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“It is forbidden to take pictures of the daily life of the North Korean people if they are not well dressed. For my guide this man was not well dressed enough to be photographed.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“It is also forbidden to photograph malnutrition.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“On the day of the Kimjongilia festival, thousands of North Koreans must queue up to visit various monuments.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“The North Korean officials hate when you take this kind of picture. Even when I explain that poverty exists all around the world, in my own country as well, they forbid me from taking pictures of the poor.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“When you sleep in Kaesong, near the DMZ, you are locked in an hotel complex composed of old houses. It allows the guides to say “Why do you want to go outside? It’s the same as in the hotel.” No, it’s not.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“For a long time, bans against black market sales have been strictly enforced. Grey market vendors are more common. They earn a little money selling cigarettes or sweets.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“There are a lot of tired people since many have to ride their bikes for hours to go to work in the fields. Taking pictures of them is forbidden.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“When times are hard (as they usually are here), kids can be found working for the farming collective. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“One night, on the way back to the hotel my bus had to take an alternate route due to street closures. As we passed by old buildings, the guides asked me not to shoot with flash. The official reason was “to avoid scaring people”. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

Fruits Market, North Korea. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

Street Seller, North Korea. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“A visit to a rural home. Those houses and the families who live there are carefully selected by the government. But sometimes, a detail like a bathroom used as a cistern shows that times are hard...” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“Queueing is a national sport for North Koreans.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“Every year, people from the town go to the country to help out in public projects. On this day, they repainted milestones. Before to government regarded shots like these as positive, but now they understand that we can interpret this as forced labor.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“When visiting the delphinium in Pyongyang, you can photograph the animals, but not the soldiers who make up 99% of the crowd!” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

This photo shows children in Begaebong streets, collecting grains. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“You can find all kinds of food and drink in Pyongyang’s two supermarkets where things are sold in both euros and wons. They even have Evian water. Only the elite can shop there.” Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope

“This man was taking a rest on the rocks by the sea in Chilbo. My guide asked me to delete this for fear that western media could say that this man was dead. He was alive”. Picture: Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media/australscope