{"id":4648,"date":"2013-04-10T19:34:33","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T19:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seangallagher.wpengine.com\/blog\/?p=4648"},"modified":"2013-04-10T19:34:33","modified_gmt":"2013-04-10T19:34:33","slug":"inside-north-korea-photographing-undercover-in-the-worlds-most-secretive-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallagher-photo.com\/inside-north-korea-photographing-undercover-in-the-worlds-most-secretive-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside North Korea: Photographing Undercover in the World\u2019s Most Secretive Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"north-korea-sean-gallagher-4\"<\/a>
Visitors stand next to ornate gates at the mausoleum for former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tensions are running high again on the Korean peninsula. As international observers watch closely for what move the North will play next, I thought it might be a good time to revisit some of my work from photographing in North Korea, undercover on-assignment, for the Globe & Mail in 2009.<\/p>\n

Below is an extract from an article I contributed to the Digital Journalist the same year, recounting some of my experiences whilst photographing in this reclusive state. It was an experience I shall never forget…<\/p>\n

————————————–<\/p>\n

Last month, I got a call from the\u00a0Globe & Mail<\/em>\u2018s Asia correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, asking me if I was free in early September for a shoot. \u201cSure,\u201d I said. I had been working with Mark a lot recently and was keen to work with him again. \u201cI\u2019m thinking of going to North Korea,\u201d he said. \u201cNorth Korea? Okay, I\u2019m in,\u201d I nonchalantly replied.<\/p>\n

As our bus trundled across the bridge over the Yalu River that separates China and North Korea, my initial nonchalance had well and truly disappeared as we slowly approached the most closed nation on earth.<\/p>\n

\"north-korea-sean-gallagher-3\"