Arab News Japan
TOKYO: An exhibition spanning several years on the lives of the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is being held at the Korean cultural center in the Okubo district of Tokyo.
The photographs of ITO Takashi testify to the ongoing changes in North Korea, a country which is trying to modernize despite the sanctions imposed on it by the international community.
The poster for the exhibition is a scene of everyday life in the Pyongyang metro taken in 2019. A woman with a baby in the foreground poses for the photographer while an employee taps on a smartphone in the background. It’s a scene that could have taken place in Japan.
According to the photographer, several hundred thousand smartphones are produced in North Korea. Smartphones are used in cities as well as in the countryside and a slide show that the photographer presents shows a snapshot of city dwellers on electric bicycles just as you would see in many cities around the world.
The photographer attended commemorative military parades, seeing missile carriers in 2017 but none in 2018 during the rapprochement between the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.
However, the resentment towards the American military is still very strong, as evidenced by a young North Korean hitting a wooden scarecrow bearing the image of an American soldier in a park in Pyongyang. According to the photographer, this is due to the bombings during the Korean War that devastated the country and affected almost every family.
Since 1992, photographer Ito has devoted part of his life to documenting the evolution of the country in images, avoiding value judgments and biases. He tells in pictures the stories of Korean Hibakusha and comfort women in different Asian countries, which allows him to have the confidence of those he photographs.
The impression given is a country bruised by the wounds of history and with an identity that has been forged through the dramas of bombings, war and colonization.
The photo exhibition is open until July 2 at the North Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo.