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Resource September 5, 2013

Tomas van Houtryve on Photographing North Korea's Borders

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Media file: ProjectTVH_NK_China_border_chi3435XP.jpg
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With the same ruthless skill it uses to keep its population in check, North Korea also keeps...

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Media file: borderline_lead.jpg
Image by Tomas van Houtryve. South Korea, 2013.

In this video, Tomas van Houtryve, who describes himself as a non-fiction photographer, explains his approach to documenting North Korea's borders. His project "Borderline: In the Shadow of North Korea" follows North Korea's borders, including the DMZ that separates it from South Korea.

North Korea rarely admits foreign journalists and restricts their access on the occasions when it does. This makes it exceedingly difficult to piece together an accurate portrait of what is happening inside the country. Van Houtryve says that his photography from two visits to North Korea was no exception. So instead of photographing the inside of North Korea, van Hourtryve took a step back and started photographing from the outside.