Kyodo News via AP, file

Chinese security officers and officials at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing scuffle with a North Korea asylum seeker near the building's main gate in this 2002 photo.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea's prison population has swelled in recent years with those caught fleeing the country under a crackdown on defections by young leader Kim Jong Un, according to defectors living in South Korea and researchers who study Pyongyang's notorious network of labor camps and detention centers.

Soon after he succeeded his father as North Korean leader, Kim is believed to have tightened security on the country's borders and pressured Pyongyang's neighbor and main ally, China, to repatriate anyone caught on its side of the frontier.

"They are tightening the noose," said Insung Kim, a researcher from the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights.

"Forced repatriation from China is a pathway to pain, suffering, and violence," according to "Hidden Gulags," an exhaustive 2012 study on the prison camps by veteran human rights researcher and author David Hawk. "Arbitrary detention, torture and forced labor are inflicted upon many repatriated North Koreans."

In 2003, Park Seong-hyeok, then 7, and his parents were arrested trying to reach Mongolia from China and sent back to North Korea. He ended up at a prison in the northern city of Chongjin, where he was packed in with other kids, some of them homeless children rounded up off the streets.

"I couldn't even tell whether I was alive," Park said. "We were provided five pieces of potato a day, each about the size of a fingernail."

After a few months, he managed to escape after his uncle bribed the guards. With the help of relatives, he made it to South Korea, but he assumes his parents, who he has not seen in 10 years, remain imprisoned in the North.

Lee Jin-Man / AP

Park Seong-hyeok, 18, says he spent years in a North Korea prison as a child.

In the 18 months since Kim took power, any hopes the 20-something ruler would usher in a new era of human rights reforms have been squelched.

North Korea considers those who leave the country to be guilty of treason and subject to up to five years of manual labor. In addition, the penal code states if the nature of the defection is "serious" — taken by most researchers to mean if the defector gets the help of South Korean or American Christian missionary groups as opposed to trying to reach China for work purposes — the defector risks an additional charge of anti-state activities that could mean life in prison or even death.

North Koreans considered hostile to the government can spend the rest of their lives, along with their families, in one of at least five sprawling labor camps or colonies that encompass fields, factories, mines and housing blocks.

Defectors may end up in those camps, but are typically held first in other detention facilities close to the border, just as brutal but more resembling traditional penitentiaries, according to human rights groups. Still, at least one labor camp, Yodok, now has a special section for those repatriated from China that houses thousands of inmates, according to Kang Cheol-hwan, a former inmate there.

Kang, who recounted his experiences at the camp in the book "The Aquariums of Pyongyang," said his information came from contacts in the North. He currently heads a foreign-funded campaigning and advocacy group aimed at spreading democracy in North Korea.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

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As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

Estimates of the current prison population range from 100,000 to 200,000, and activists say would-be defectors account for up to 5 percent of the total. Insung Kim of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights cites a "five-fold rise" in the number of detained defectors over the last 10 years.

Figures provided by the South Korean government appear to support numerous accounts by smugglers, defectors and people living along the border that security has been tightened. In 2009, 2,929 defectors made it to South Korea. Last year, 1,509 did, the lowest number since 2005.

Despite ever more detailed and consistent testimony by defectors and sharper satellite images of the prison camps, there is still little the international community can do to press for change. The government refuses to allow outsiders access to detention facilities to check conditions, and denies the existence of political prison camps altogether.

The main source of information about the prison camps and the conditions inside is the nearly 25,000 defectors living in South Korea, the majority of whom arrived over the last five years. Researchers admit their picture is incomplete at best, and there is reason for some caution when assessing defector accounts.

Jung Gwang-il, who fled the North in 2004 after spending three years at Yodok for alleged espionage, said prisoners were forced to grow corn, peppers and barley, and those who didn't work hard enough had their rations cut. Hunger was so intense that prisoners ate undigested seeds from the feces of other inmates, he said.

In April, they would collect the corpses of those who died over the winter, because they were unable to bury them in the frozen earth.

"To this day I still remember the smell," he said. "Death was a fact of life there." 

Related:

• North Korea calls off talks with South
• American begins 15-year term in 'special prison'
• Analysis: N. Korea blinked but will threaten again

KCNA via Reuters

As North Korea test-fired yet more missiles on Monday, its leader Kim Jong-un spent time at Pyongyang Myohyangsan Children's Camp at the foot of Mt. Myohyang.

SEOUL -- North Korea fired two short-range missiles on Monday, making six launches in three days, and condemned South Korea for criticizing what Pyongyang said were legitimate military drills.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said North Korea had fired one missile on Monday morning and a second one in the afternoon. Both were fired into the sea off North Korea's east coast, a ministry official said.

The launches come hard on the heels of more than two months of threats from North Korea that it would wage a nuclear war against South Korea and the United States if it were attacked.

The North condemned joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises that ended in late April, as a rehearsal for an attack on its territory.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

"We are conducting intense military exercises to strengthen our defense capacity," North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, the body that handles inter-Korean issues, as saying on Monday.

"Our military is conducting these exercises in order to cope with the mounting war measures from the U.S. and South Korea, which is the legitimate right of any sovereign country."

North Korea frequently fires short-range missiles, although the current spate of launches has drawn criticism from South Korea and the United States after the recent threats from the North.

Seoul on Monday condemned the launches for stoking tension in the region while Beijing, the North's sole major ally, called for restraint.

"These launches are its tactic of signaling to the world that the regime is willing to negotiate now, while at the same time saving face," Kim Yeon-su, a professor at Korea National Defense University in Seoul, which is part of the Defense Ministry, said of North Korea.

Kim said that North Korea had an arsenal of hundreds of short- and medium-range missiles.

There appears to be little prospect of talks between North Korea and the United States as Washington insists that Pyongyang needs to abandon its nuclear weapons program, something the isolated and impoverished state has said it will not do.

Related:

Pentagon: North Korea moving closer to developing nuke that can hit US

American begins 15 years of hard labor in North Korean 'special prison'

North Korea fires projectile into eastern waters

Yonhap via Reuters

Kenneth Bae, 44, was convicted of "hostile acts" against North Korea.

An American tour operator sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea has begun his sentence at a “special prison,” state media reported Wednesday.

Kenneth Bae, 44, stood trial last month accused of “hostile acts” against the repressive regime.

Bae, who is from Washington state, was convicted of an attempt to topple the government through “state subversion” according to a brief report on the Korean Central News Agency's website.

“Pae Jun Ho, an American citizen, started his life at a special prison on Tuesday,” the report said, referring to him by his Korean name.

He is one of at least three other U.S. citizens who are also devout Christians to have been detained by North Korea in recent years.

While North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated.

Washington state Rep. Cindy Ryu told The Herald newspaper in December that Bae might have been doing missionary work in North Korea.

"Many of us are third- and fourth-generation Christians and many of our pastors are originally from North Korea," Ryu said. "We want to visit our home country, but in North Korea you cannot say you are a missionary."

A Facebook page has been set up titled “Remember Ken Bae, Detained in North Korea.”

Related:

• North Korea: Detained American tourist has 'admitted his crime'
• Detained American, Internet freedom on agenda as Google boss visits North Korea
• Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

News analysis

SEOUL, South Korea – After weeks of a standoff that, at times, worried even the most stoic South Koreans, the North blinked. The latest North Korea crisis is over, but the question is: for how long? 

The view doesn’t look encouraging. North Korea’s medium-range missiles remain locked on their launchers; U.S. and South Korean destroyers still ply Korea’s coastline. 

Across the region, Patriot anti-missile batteries are on the ready. One top U.S. nuclear expert says North Korea will need to test-fire more missiles and nuclear arms in the future. 

But at least for now, instead of drumbeats of war, Pyongyang is sending out feelers about talks and piling on its demands: The complete lifting of United Nations' sanctions, a permanent end to U.S.-South Korean war games, and lots of apologies. The latest came on Tuesday with the North insisting it must be recognized as a nuclear weapons state, rejecting a U.S. condition that it agree to give up its nuclear arms program before talks can begin.

The South called the North's conditions “shameless.”

Secretary of State John Kerry has taken a broader view, saying it’s “at least a beginning gambit.”

But he’s already dismissing talks until North Korea shows serious signs of dismantling its nuclear arms program. In response, Kim Jong Un’s regime has said that’s a non-starter – that its nuclear weapons are its “treasured sword” and aren’t negotiable at any price.

We’ve been here before. The Obama administration calls it “a cycle of provocation.” North Korea deploys threatening words and actions – capped off with a real missile or nuclear test – in order to gain concessions from the U.S. and South Korea, usually in the form of cash. The North then retreats -- until the next crisis.

Some Korea experts say Washington has failed to break that cycle, despite its efforts at “strategic patience” – a highfalutin expression for avoiding engagement with the North while letting sanctions bite.

And they blame that U.S. policy as much as North Korea for the impasse.

“The problem is that, when there’s a sense of crisis, the U.S. doesn’t want to talk to Pyongyang because it would be rewarding bad behavior,” said John Delury, a professor at Seoul’s Yonsei University. “But then when the crisis abates, the U.S. doesn’t want to talk with Pyongyang [either] because it’s not a priority."

Analysts like Delury say it’s only a matter of time before tensions, once again, will rise to dangerous levels. That’s because the U.S. keeps learning the wrong lessons, so it’s stuck in a low-grade, perpetual crisis with North Korea.

They say the U.S. has failed to see that North Korea is really after security first and foremost, followed by recognition and international legitimacy, not aid. If they were just after money, Pyongyang would not have shut down its Keasong Industrial Park, a joint North-South venture which generates billions of dollars annually in trade, during the latest crisis.

North Korea’s provocations are often seen in the West as a kind of pro-active blackmail, but Delury said that’s another U.S. misperception.

“North Korea is reactive,” he explained. “Half of its provocations are counter or defensive moves to assert its strength in the face of far more powerful U.S., South Korean and Japanese forces arrayed against them.”

It’s true that, during the most recent crisis, the tide turned away from confrontation only when the U.S. dialed down its displays of nuclear-capable weaponry, like B2 stealth bombers and F-22 super fighters, used as a show of force during war maneuvers close to North Korea’s border.

Much, of course, depends on the extent to which China – North Korea’s main benefactor with a hand on the tiny country’s food and fuel taps – can persuade Kim that he can rule without the need for nuclear weapons as his ultimate guarantee. 

Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

Launch slideshow

But the U.S. -- Korea watchers here say -- needs to grasp that North Korea’s goal is to survive in a tough neighborhood, surrounded by nuclear powers – China, Russia and U.S. forces. 

If the U.S. wants to break its perpetual cycle of crisis with North Korea, it may well have to bite the bullet – these analysts say – and sit down and negotiate with a “nuclear North Korea,” without officially recognizing the state, or its atomic capability. 

Rather than cash handouts, that could open the door to serious discussions about North Korea’s economic development – something that Kim himself recently called a top priority. Getting there, though, is fraught with difficulty – it would require massive amounts of political will and constant communication through a high-level U.S. special envoy to North Korea, someone like George Mitchell or Madeleine Albright.

It would also mean a leap of faith by the young Kim – if indeed he is in control of his country, as U.S. officials now believe - and the unlearning of wrong lessons by the U.S.

But the alternative, says Delury, is much worse – more bristling standoffs in the future, with even more risk that an accident or miscalculation could trigger a disaster. “Both sides have gone from trading statements about who is really ready for war, to trading statements about who is really ready for dialogue. But that doesn’t mean anything has really changed at a fundamental level.”

And, unless it does, sooner or later North Korea will be back on the airwaves, threatening the world with its “sledge-hammer blows.”

Jim Maceda is an NBC News foreign correspondent based in London, currently on assignment in Seoul, South Korea.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

US, North Korea appear far apart on conditions for negotiation

Kerry: China must do more to resolve N. Korea crisis 

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

A White House spokesman said Thursday that the United States was open to "authentic and credible" discussions with North Korea -- if it were to show a willingness to abandon its nuclear ambitions. But early signals from Pyongyang were less than enthusiastic.

Aboard Air Force One as President Barack Obama was headed to Boston, spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that U.S. officials would be willing to negotiate, but would "need to see clear evidence" that the North was "willing to live up to international obligations."

"So far we have not seen that," he added. "Belligerent actions ... actually indicate the opposite of that."

North Korea's response through its state media agency KCNA seemed unlikely to change that perception.

A statement attributed to the policy department of North Korea's National Defense Commission laid down tough conditions under which the North might consider coming to the bargaining table.

Among the North's demands were that the U.S. work to reverse sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council over Pyongyang's continued nuclear tests. "They should bear in mind that doing so would be a token of good will towards the DPRK," or Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the statement said.

Less easy to define was a demand that the U.S. "stop all provocative acts against the DPRK and apologize for all of them."

The statement appeared to refer to the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises conducted by U.S. and South Korean forces when it demanded that the U.S. "give formal assurances before the world that they would not stage again such nuclear war drills to threaten or blackmail the DPRK."

It additionally demanded that U.S. immediately "withdraw all nuclear war means from South Korea and its vicinity and give up their attempt to reintroduce them."

"They should bear in mind that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can begin with the pullout of the nuclear war means introduced by the U.S. and this may lead to the global denuclearization," the statement said.

NBC News' Stacey Klein contributed to this report.

Related:

Kerry: China must do more to resolve N. Korea crisis

Kerry says US ready to 'reach out' to North Korea

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

News Analysis

BEIJING -- There was confusion at the China-North Korea border Thursday after Chinese tour operators halted trips into the North.

Wang Zhao / AFP - Getty Images

Two men wait Thursday for dispatch at a customs port in the Chinese border city of Dandong. The largest border crossing between North Korea and China has been closed to tourist groups, a Chinese official said Wednesday.

It wasn't clear whether the instruction to do so came from the Chinese authorities, the North Koreans, or was made by the nervous operators themselves.

But it mirrored a wider confusion over Chinese policy toward Pyongyang, which depends on Beijing for food and fuel, as well as diplomatic support.

As North Korea readies what is thought to be a missile test, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei has spent most of the week deflecting questions with the official line that "all sides" should show restraint and begin dialogue, and that peace and stability are a "shared responsibility."

But in an interview with NBC News he was more forthright about China's growing concern. "We do not want to see chaos and conflict on China's doorstep," he said.

In fact, there are signs that China is rethinking its policy toward the North. President Xi Jinping last weekend told a forum of political and business leaders that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain." He didn't mention the North by name, but it was pretty clear who he was referring to.

Earlier, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi had told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Beijing would not allow "troublemaking on China's doorstep," a line repeated in an editorial in Thursday's China Daily.

China also supported the latest UN sanctions that followed North Korea's third nuclear test.

In fact, relations between the two have been souring for some time as Pyongyang has consistently ignored calls by Beijing for restraint.

"To many in Beijing, North Korea is looking less like a strategic asset and more like a strategic burden," said Cheng Xiaohe, associate professor at Renmin University's School of International Studies.

In the past, even when clearly unhappy, Beijing has treated the North with kid gloves because of fear of the North collapsing, and also as a hedge against U.S. power in Asia.

'Little Fatty'
According to leaked 2010 diplomat cables obtained by Wikileaks and posted by newspapers the Guardian and the New York Times, Chinese officials described the regime in the North as behaving like a "spoiled child."

Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

Launch slideshow

Chinese social media, which is as close a barometer of public opinion as you can get here, has in recent days been buzzing with criticism -- not of the U.S., but of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, for leading his country to disaster and the world close to war.

Kim is derided as "Little Fatty" or "Fatty the Third."

One former top U.S. diplomat agrees there are clear signs that China is losing patience with North Korea. Kurt Campbell, the state department's top official for east asia, said there are signs that a relationship once described by Chairman Mao to be "as close as lips and teeth" is wearing thin.

He said this was notable in public statements and private conversations with U.S. officials. Speaking last week at a forum at Johns Hopkins University, he said this had the potential for a large impact on northeast Asia.

What's harder to say is how this growing frustration will be translated into concrete actions to pressure the North.

Cheng of Renmin University noted that in 2003 Beijing turned off the oil supply in order to force Pyongyang to join six-party talks and could use that weapon again.

"If China has political will, China can do something," he said. "China can make a difference."

Secretary of State John Kerry will be taking this up with China's leaders when he is there this weekend.

"China and the U.S. share common interests in peace, stability and denuclearisation," said the Foreign Ministry's Hong Lei. "We hope to work with the U.S. side towards that end."

Significantly, there has so far been no Chinese criticism of the display of U.S. high-tech firepower in the region, which is seen as another tacit condemnation of Pyongyang's antics.

That said, Kerry will no doubt point out, as other officials have done privately, that if China fails to act the result will be an even bigger U.S. military presence in the region and a possible regional arms race -- precisely what China has said it wants to avoid.

Related:

US on missile watch as North Korea celebrates

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

SEOUL - North Korea warned foreigners in South Korea on Tuesday to leave the country because they were at risk in the event of conflict, the latest threat of war from Pyongyang.

Soaring tensions on the peninsula have been fuelled by North Korean anger over the imposition of U.N. sanctions after its last nuclear arms test in February, creating one of the worst crises since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

"We do not wish harm on foreigners in South Korea should there be a war," said the KCNA news agency, citing its Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee.

KCNA said once war broke out "it will be an all-out war, a merciless, sacred, retaliatory war to be waged by (North Korea)."

They added, "the committee informs all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners, including tourists...that they are requested to take measures for shelter and evacuation in advance for their safety."

Pyongyang last week advised embassies there to consider pulling out in case of war. Earlier on Tuesday, North Korean workers failed to turn up at a factory complex operated with South Korea, effectively shutting down the last major symbol of cooperation between the hostile neighbors.

Few embassies in Seoul have advised their citizens to quit. The United States, which has also been threatened by Pyongyang, has said there were no imminent signs of threats to American citizens.

Pyongyang has shown no sign of preparing its 1.2 million-strong army for war, indicating the threats could be partly intended for domestic purposes to bolster Kim Jong Un, 30, the third in his family to lead the reclusive country.

South Korea's president said she was disappointed at North Korea's decision to halt operations at the Kaesong industrial park, which generates $2 billion in trade for the impoverished state.

News of the Kaesong closure diverted attention from speculation that the North was about to launch some sort of provocative act this week -- perhaps a missile launch or new nuclear test. However, residents of Seoul carried on with daily activities with no trace of anxiety.

Few experts had expected Pyongyang to jeopardize Kaesong, which employs more than 50,000 North Koreans making household goods for 123 South Korean firms.

World leaders have expressed alarm at the crisis and the prospect of a conflict involving a country claiming to be developing nuclear weapons.

China, the North's sole diplomatic and financial ally, has shown increasing impatience with Pyongyang. Russian President Vladimir Putin said hostilities could create a cataclysm worse than the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The North is also angry at weeks of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises off the coast of the peninsula, with B-2 stealth bombers dispatched from their U.S. bases.

But the United States announced the postponement last weekend of a long-planned missile launch, a move officials said was aimed at easing tensions on the peninsula.

North Korean authorities told embassies in Pyongyang they could not guarantee their safety from Wednesday, after saying conflict was inevitable amid the joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises due to last until the end of the month. No diplomats appear to have left the North Korean capital.

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Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

Who is North Korea's secretive leader? Here is what we know

North Korea's overseas apologists dismiss 'propaganda'

North Korea banned South Korean workers from the jointly run Kaesong industrial zone Wednesday in the latest escalation of the diplomatic crisis surrounding the rogue nuclear state.

The news came as China expressed "serious concern" to U.S. diplomats over the worsening crisis, which has already prompted the U.S. Navy to deploy a second destroyer in the western Pacific to respond to any missile threats from the North.

NBC News’ Jim Maceda is in Seoul, South Korea reporting on the heightened tensions on the peninsula. Earlier today he responded to reader questions about the tensions.

Click on the box below to replay the informative chat. 

Related links: 

North Korea blocks South from shared Kaesong zone as crisis deepens

Nuclear-capable stealth bombers sent to South Korea amid Kim Jong Un's threats

North Korea puts rocket units on 'highest alert,' issues new threats to US

Kim Jong Un threatens attack on US bases in Pacific

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

One of North Korea's top decision-making bodies is setting guidelines that call nuclear weapons "the nation's life" that won't be traded even for "billions of dollars,” The Associated Press reported.

The statement Sunday came after a plenary meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers' Party attended by leader Kim Jong Un and other officials, the AP said.

It also followed a declaration on Saturday that it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, the latest in a string of increasingly belligerent outbursts from the isolated state.

Sunday’s statement says nuclear weapons aren't "goods for getting U.S. dollars" or a "political bargaining chip." Outside analysts have said Pyongyang raises worries over its nuclear ambitions to spur nuclear-disarmament-for-aid talks, the AP said.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

It said Pyongyang will also increase work to build up the economy. Kim has made fixing the moribund economy a focus.

On Thursday the U.S. sent two nuclear-capable bombers to South Korea, where they dropped inert munitions in a military exercise. The flight sparked an angry response from the North, which declared on Friday that it was preparing rockets aimed at American bases in South Korea and the Pacific.

Related:

Analysis: North Korea's threats predictable but Kim Jong Un is not

North Korea's Internet? For most, online access doesn't exist

PhotoBlog: Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'

This story was originally published on Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:38 AM EDT

Jon Chol Jin / AP

University students punch the air as they march through Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 29, 2013.

Jon Chol Jin / AP

Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for a mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang on Friday in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms.

Placards read "Let's crush the puppet traitor group" and "Let's rip the puppet traitors to death!", The Associated Press reported.

Earlier on Friday, the isolated communist state put its rocket units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, Reuters reported, after two nuclear-capable stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop inert munitions on a range in South Korea as part of a major military exercise.

KCNA via EPA

A picture released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows Kim Jong Un convening an urgent operation meeting at 0:30 am on March 29, 2013 at an undisclosed location, in which he ordered strategic rocket forces to be on standby to strike US and South Korean targets at any time.

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Combat ready? Kim Jong Un inspects troops as North Korea issues new threats

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Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow