At the time of my sojourn, North Korea had been the only country in the world which had not been touched by globalization. Entering North Korea was only possible  for a privileged few, even fewer were able to leave it.  When I finally was let into this „Last Paradise of the Proletariat“, I met people who ran away when I was trying to ask them a question. Those who did not ran away, e.g. Mr. Kim, my perennial watchdog, who never ran away but even followed me in my most private moments, I tried to tell them stories about the world outside, about the boon and the bane of the mobil phone (they had asked me to store my phone at the airport until my departure) and the World Wide Web, and above all about the enlightening freedom to use one‘s own mind. Kim Il Sung, the „Sun of Humanity“ and „Great Leader“ had been belowground (well actually not, he lay in state in a stately mausoleum) since 14 years, was still President. As a kind of compensation, Kim Jong Il, his successor, was at least allowed to call himself „The Dear Leader“. He shined so brightly that in real life he could only walk around tanning Ray Ban sunglasses.

Taking photos in North Korea offered a few special challenges for me: Mr. Kim, let me not longer call him my watchdog but rather my personal advisor, wanted me to keep records only of the beautiful parts of his paradise. First I obeyed and took only photos of sights he presented to me, Kim Il Sung Square, Kim Il Sung statue and the Arc de Triomphe (3 meters higher than the original). After a I while I got bored and I started to argue with Mr. Kim who did not want me to take record of the farther grey Pyongyang street life. He tried to meet my wishes and even organized a little girl saluting in front of me in a perfectly warming winter anorak. Of course I wanted more, but Mr. Kim who claimed that he had never ever been in Germany, quickly brought the passionate photographer down to earth with a simple German saying: „Der Spatz in der Hand ist besser als die Taube auf dem Dach.“ „A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush“.