PROPAGANDA

to build railway lines in the country’s northern provinces in 2016.

Following 18 months of tense negotiations, we managed to secure visas to enter in time for this week’s foundation anniversary.

We were assigned senior officials from the Ministry of Information to act as our “guides”. They attempted to convince us of how the pariah state is an all-powerful yet inclusive nation, where everyone lives in “harmony and happiness to serve the country”.

While the Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to the country a few thousand people a year can visit North Korea as “tourists”.

Comedy actor Michael Palin, 75, next week releases a two-part documentary that will apparently see him go “beyond the politics” in a bid to discover more about the everyday life of the secretive nation. But travelling with a tour company, like Palin, is unlikely to reveal the darker side to life that still exists. The lack of free will was evident from the moment we stepped off the plane.

We were given “press” armbands, not permitted to leave our hotel without our minders and kept in a constant state of limbo over arrangeslaves ments for our stay. We would often be kept in the dark for hours and then need to leave at a moment’s notice.

A complete ban on advertising, state TV stations dedicated to pumping out propaganda dressed up as news and entertainment, all bolster Kim’s surging popularity and

Elderly women load rocks from a river bed on to a truck

Commuters emerge from Pyongyang Metro