The visual language of North Korea is as ambiguous as you expect

"Leaving North Korea is not like leaving any other country. It is more like leaving another universe. I will never truly be free of its gravity, no matter how far I journey" says Hyeonseo Lee, a defector of the controversial nation.

The relatively unknown country comes in full frame with Phaidon’s latest edition, Made in North Korea. In the pages of the book written by Nick Bonner who has produced three documentaries on North Korea and a feature film since 2001, North Korea is “uncensored and unfiltered”.

Made in North Korea uncovers the fascinating and surprisingly beautiful graphic culture of North Korea - from packaging to hotel brochures, luggage tags to tickets for the world-famous mass games.

From his base in Beijing, Bonner has been running tours into North Korea for over twenty years, and along the way collecting graphic ephemera. He has amassed thousands of items that, as a collection, provide an extraordinary and rare insight into North Korea's state-controlled graphic output, and the lives of ordinary North Koreans.

Explore the land of the unknown here.