Freelance travel writer Lucy Corne took a trip to North Korea in 2008 and got to see the demilitarized zone (DMZ) – a buffer zone between the neighboring countries – from both the north and south sides. “It was very interesting to visit the demilitarized zone tour from the north as we had also done it from the south. We discovered that both sides feed propaganda: for example in the south they tell you there are no trees in the north and that the building at the DMZ is just a facade with nothing behind it, which is not actually true.”

35 fascinating things you probably never knew about North Korea