NK News on Thursday unveiled its annual 2017 wall calendar, a limited edition product manufactured to help subsidize independent journalism on North Korea.

Published annually since 2012, the fifth edition of the wall calendar features stunning photos of daily life in the DPRK, captured from a 2016 trip to Pyongyang, Sinuiju, Wonsan, and Mount Kumgang.

“We’re really happy with the calendar this year, which gives contemporary insight into the evolving nature of daily life in the DPRK,” said Chad O’Carroll, CEO and Founder of NK News.

“Selecting the final 12 images from a pool of over 15,000 was extremely difficult,” O’Carroll continued. “However, this must be the most balanced selection of profiles, landscapes and action shots we’ve ever put together.”

Retaining at a pre-sale discount of just $24.99, the calendars will be shipping throughout the U.S. and internationally from early November onwards.

PrintingCenterUSA, which specializes in booklet printing, helped with the calendar promotion by sponsoring some of the calendars.

Photographers who have contributed to annual NK News calendars include C. Petersen-Clausen, E. Lafforgue, and P. Dupont.

Want to take advantage of our $5 discount? Click here to pre-order your 2017 North Korea wall calendar now.

January

A cool early morning in Wonsan, North Korea’s eastern coastal city. Though tourists have long visited Wonsan, North Korean authorities have since 2013 been making efforts to increase the number of foreign and domestic visitors going to the city. Now boasting an international-class airport as well as a recently remodeled Children’s Camp – which aims to attract foreign visitors from around the world – the city also includes hotels, beaches and a port once used by a ferry serving the Japanese coastal city of Niigata.

February

A mother and daughter look out the window of a passing tram in Pyongyang. Built during the early 1990s, Pyongyang’s tram system comprises three lines, using rolling stock imported from Germany, Switzerland, and the former Czechoslovakia. The tram lines are supplemented throughout the capital with a trolley bus service, as well as an underground metro featuring two lines. Pyongyang’s lack of major vehicular traffic means the trams and trolley-buses present little burden to street-users.

March

A view of the Pyongyang skyline by night, taken from the Yanggakdo Hotel. Until relatively recently, Pyongyang was extremely dark at night, with power shortages unable to keep up with domestic demand. But with a number of new power stations coming online across the country since 2015, more and more apartments are being lit well into the night. Power supplies can stretch further than before thanks to the increased availability of cheap LED lights from China.

April

Young newlyweds pose for a photo with a Dalmatian in downtown Pyongyang. The woman is wearing a traditional hanbok dress, while the man a western-style suit, as is common in weddings in South Korea. Couples usually pose for photos at major landmarks around the city, this time at the Zoo, before their traditional wedding ceremony. Wedding gifts usually include cash or food, though poorer families sometimes borrow items purely for the prior photo session.

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May

A young lady cycles along a path near Mt. Kumgang, just a few miles from the South Korean border. For many years, Mt. Kumgang was open to tourists from South Korea, with hundreds of thousands visiting a variety of resort hotels each year. But tourism came to an abrupt stop in June 2008 when a female South Korean tourist was shot dead early in the morning by a North Korean soldier. North Korean authorities claimed she was a security threat and had fled when asked to stop. The ban on tourism to North Korea has never been reversed and as such, facilities in the Kumgang region lay more or less unused.

June

A father and son walk along the banks of the Taedong River, opposite Kim Il Sung square. Walking in front of the Juche Tower, the pair stand in-between two of Pyongyang’s most well-known landmarks. The Juche Tower stands some 170m high and was completed in 1982, designed to commemorate founding President Kim Il Sung’s 70th birthday. At the base of it is a wall containing plaques from foreign supporters and overseas study groups of North Korea’s Juche ideology.

Pre-order your 2017 North Korea wall calendar now and save $5!

July

A rarely seen reverse angle of one of the figures mounted on a building in Kim Il Sung square. During some national holidays, anniversaries or after special events, North Korean authorities host massive rallies in Kim Il Sung square, often rolling heavy military equipment past onlookers including VIPs and senior leadership figures. Government buildings nearby include the headquarters of the Korean Workers Party, the foreign ministry and the central bank.

August

A young North Korean university student poses for the camera in Wonsan. Most men in North Korea serve in the military for 10 years and women for seven. Military service is compulsory in the DPRK and most people enlist after high school – those who are accepted into universities do their military service after they graduate.

Pre-order your 2017 North Korea wall calendar now and save $5!

September

A woman and young man push a cargo of wires along a wet street in Wonsan. While the state once provided rations and supplies to people throughout the country, the public distribution system (PDS) broke down severely during the famine of the mid-1990s. Increasingly, people in North Korea must look out for themselves, meaning many individuals have now entered the field of private trade in order to survive (and often thrive).



October

A man cycles past crops along a pathway near Mt. Kumgang, towards an electrified train track. As an extremely mountainous country with less than 20% of land suitable for agriculture, it is common to see North Koreans using the mountains themselves for farming. Major crops include rice, potatoes, and corn. But while North Korea aims to be self-sufficient in food production, mismanagement and poor weather conditions often impact the level of domestically produced food available.

Pre-order your 2017 North Korea wall calendar now and save $5!

November

A new tower block on Mirae Scientists Street, located in downtown Pyongyang adjacent to the river Taedong. The six-lane street is lined by high-rise, futuristic apartments and was opened in November 2015 for researchers from the Kim Chaek University of Technology. The street is one of several new streets ordered for construction following the death of Kim Jong Il, which are usually built for workers from specific fields.



December

North Korean children play near Sinuiju, a city located in the northwest of the country near China. Winters can be extremely cold in the DPRK, with temperatures in some areas dropping below -15° centigrade as the daily average. With little fuel to heat up homes, some North Koreans must deal with exceptional cold during the winter months.

Pre-order your 2017 North Korea wall calendar now and save $5!