at times they were two to three hundred students sitting around the pitch it almost felt like a stadium. he said you. guys down the. middle. class. because of the latest u.n. sanctions north korea has been forced to be self-sufficient no role materials or products may be exported. given the current economic situation it's hopefully only a matter of time before north korea gives up its stop a nuclear policy. i'm allowed to visit a textile factory and i've been here four times already but the managers music till it's done come in and take a look. and

shown a showcase spinning male the workers largely women in this case are the pride of the nation officially the people earn five euros a month it's very probable but their actual wages are even lower. the people here can only survive with food stamps handed out by the government malnutrition is so common in north korea that people have become demonstrably smaller i. to say the factory is strikingly clean the workers are laughing and

joking. in some views that the country needs economic reforms exports to china have dropped by half in addition the country is losing large parts of this agricultural land every year as a result of environmental disasters such as drought and flooding making it callous in the face of climate change like so many countries and because of the new sanctions will fear is even more isolated than before. i. i.

i. i i. i. i i. i i. i. i. i. i'm glad i was allowed to photograph some of the women none of this can be taken for granted here my mind is a responsible for my proper behavior if i don't stick to certain rules i could put them in a difficult situation to. for

some years now the increase in private vehicles has been shaping the face of the city it demonstrates that there's something happening in the capital and the private economy at least new buildings are being constructed and the city silhouette increasingly reminds me of the financial districts of well known asian cities but in reality these buildings are home to the high ups in the workers' party i was fortunate enough to visit one such private flats again after a few years. in the lift the surveillance becomes visible again there are people who document who in the building goes where and when it's hard to imagine such a system. the flatiron shown isn't a normal one it's a kind of involuntary place of pilgrimage for western journalists it's stressed time and again that himself has visited the flat but does anyone actually live here

he didn't smell of anything everything is meticulously arranged like in a catalogue i find it hard to believe i feel like i'm in a film in which kim jong un is the all powerful director. quit on the fourth of september we went to work suddenly someone came by car they were looking for me. they told me that the supreme leader was going to visit. i wasn't expecting the lot. of course it placed me.

to me that sounds as if kim jong un were not just executing people but also committing trespass it's not clear to me want to dictate who would be doing in someone's flat but everything's different here. even though most north koreans have almost no money to buy anything to supplement their food rations there are still supermarkets with western products they're not always open and often many shelves remain empty but it's a sign that there's a growing middle class in pyongyang that is demanding an opening up or at least certain luxury goods.

as i mentioned earlier a work out officially ends five euros per month you can't buy much in a supermarket for that the people who shop here are part of the upper middle class . the longer i'm here the more certain i am it's the women who will force a cultural change in that country that clothes very obviously no longer conform to the propaganda. the line they look western the desire for luxury goods has reach beyond young to or at least the privileged.

and. the women performing military exercises in front of me and shouting long live the victory of song go and song going means military first and it's the name of the state ideology that gives north korea's defense top priority so it can resist the imperialist threat from the united states and japan as compulsory military service for the men of north korea it lasts ten years. and the beloved leader was here six times the venerable general was here four times the current leader has been here twice. who was where and how often you're constantly being informed of that in north korea i'm visiting

a state vegetable plantation fondling twenty three families live via new houses have been built to expand the agricultural collective.