100 metres beyond North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, lies the city’s Metro.

Like most things in the dictatorship it’s all rather secretive, with visitors to the country taken on pre-arranged sightseeing trips where everything looks fine and dandy.

25-year-old photographer Elaine Li is one such visitor, and her photos of the Metro paint a pretty interesting picture. CNN spoke to her about the experience, and below is some of what she had to say:

Li: The first thing I noticed was that, although the stations are very dimly lit, the interiors are very fancy. You see chandeliers on the ceilings, marble pillars and paintings of Kim Jong Il…

The tour guides accompanied us for the whole commute, but on the platform we were free to roam around…

The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. It seemed so tame — no one was saying anything — and perhaps could even be described as a little lifeless…

“It looked like something straight out of the Hunger Games,” Li said.

That being said, she did notice some similarities between North Korea’s Metro and that of her home country, Hong Kong:

Even though the Hong Kong trains are louder and it seems more lively at first, the reality is that commuters here do not communicate. They are glued to their smartphones. In Pyongyang I did see some people on their smartphones, but far fewer.

Instead they were looking around, seemed almost shy, but not really talking to each other either. I realized [sic] that, in a way, this commute was just like commutes in so many other Asian cities.

We’ll end with a picture of some soldiers enjoying a theme park ride – actual joy, I think:

Still a hard pass from me.

[source:cnn]