Mark Edward Harris on a Decade of Photographing North Korea

Photographer Mark Edward Harris discusses his decade-long project documenting North Korea, a country he visited 10 times between 2005 and 2017. His access began with a 2008 New York Philharmonic concert in Pyongyang, after which the North Korean UN ambassador facilitated future visas. Harris's images capture everyday life—children in Chongjin, a traffic officer in Pyongyang, students in Pyongsong—moving beyond Western stereotypes of spectacle and ideology. He describes restrictions: guides controlled his movements, but over time relationships with handlers allowed rare moments of independence, such as sneaking out during a rehearsal to photograph a traffic officer. His book "North Korea" (Shashin Press) won Book of the Year at the IPA Awards. Harris reflects on the Korean War's legacy, the 1953 armistice that never became a peace treaty, and the ongoing division of the peninsula. He notes changes in Pyongyang—cars, pizza parlors, coffee houses—but acknowledges that hopes for rapprochement under Kim Jong Un have faded. The door for his access slammed shut in 2017 after the Otto Warmbier incident. Harris, who has traveled to over 100 countries, also discusses his broader career, including books on Japanese baths and Iran, and his inspiration from photographers like W. Eugene Smith and Henri Cartier-Bresson.