Reply #85: yes. in japan as well -- typically one didn't use to smile for a formal posed photo.

[Hannah Bell]

and in fact that used to be the case in the us/europe as well. i speculate that the reason, at root, was the same in all cultures -- economics, the technical requirements of photography originally, and the custom that outlives economic/technical necessity.

more generally, it could also be that the people feel it's rude for strangers to take their picture, are wary of strangers/foreigners, didn't like this *particular* photographer...or that the photographer *asked* them to pose that way. also, as another poster said, in japan lots of women still cover their mouths when smiling/laughing (they used to *black* their teeth) -- common enough that i myself started doing it when i lived there too. perhaps similar customs obtain elsewhere in asia.

there could be lots of things other than that they are some gray people who've had all the life sucked out of them by the terrible nk regime.

but other photographers in nk have been able to get candid shots with people smiling -- workers, housewives, military men & women, old people, rural residents, and schoolchildren. smiling in an unforced way.

so my question would be, what is *this* photographer's problem? why does he give us this collection of posed shots & tell us this represents daily life in nk?

and why are people so quick to believe that they *know* something about nk after looking at 15 photos from a single photographer?

i think it's pretty obvious why. they've been propagandized into that bias.