Incredible rare photos show North Koreans SMILING… but Kim Jong-un’s officials were just off camera
It seems power-crazy Communist despot Kim hasn't banned smiling....yet
THEY live in a rogue state where millions are starving and under a regime seemingly intent on sparking World War III but the people of North Korea can still raise a smile.
These amazing photos by globe-trotting photographer Eric Lafforgue show the locals can sometimes put their troubles behind them, but state officials were watching on.
"Some say that in North Korea the only ones who smile are the Dear Leaders on the propaganda", said . "However, after six trips in the most closed country, I can say that North Koreans are not the robots many depict... They also smile!
"Even if they suffer from the lack of freedom and a dictatorship, they can have happy moments in their life. This was not easy to take those pics as the guides that always follow you are always suspicious, even when they see happy people!"
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It's not surprising so many of the locals put on a good show for the cameras as those that upset Kim Jong-un and his bonkers officials can expect the very worst.
Those that don't toe the party line are chucked into huge labour camps for the rest of their days or can find themselves on the wrong end of a machine gun.
Millions living in North Korea are literally starving to death - while the Glorious Leader Kim binges on a diet of fine European cheeses, Whiskey and chocolate.
He and his henchmen live in splendid palaces in the capital Pyongyang and sprawling estates dotted around the countryside while most of his 25 million subjects live on less than £3-a-day.
Last year, portly Kim, 33, imported £155,000 of whisky from Germany, Denmark and Georgia.
The dictator – who was schooled in Switzerland where he developed a taste for Johnnie Walker Scotch and French cheeses – also imported £2,000 of rum from Germany and Denmark.
At the very same time, he told his people to eat their pets dogs branding the meat a new 'superfood'.
Kim’s splurges on luxury items are in stark contrast to the plight of his impoverished people.
A UN Food and Agriculture Organisation report stated that North Korea remains one of the 34 nations in the world needing external aid to feed its people.
The agency estimates around 2.8 million ‘vulnerable’ people in the North face an ‘ongoing struggle with under-nutrition and a lack of vital protein and fat in the diet.’
Despite his peoples' obvious hunger, Kim continues to plough hundreds of millions into a nuclear missile programme condemned by the rest of the world.