Trump calls Kim Jong Un's letter a "beautiful work of art"

Daily life in North Korea can be dark. The sanctions put in place to punish the nation for its testing of nuclear weapons have paralyzed the economy.

The Kingdom of Hermit, one of the most isolated places in the world, has experienced an increasingly severe food shortage in recent years.

Childhood in North Korea can be difficult. Many children in rural areas have to work on farms and forced labor is the main source of economic output in the country.

Malnutrition affects a shocking number of North Korean children – about 28% of children under 5 are stunted.

Poverty and hunger are the most serious in the North Korean countryside. It is estimated that 41% of the population, or 10.5 million people, are undernourished.

Xiaolu Chu, a Getty photographer who crossed North Korea by train in 2015, said he noticed that many people in rural villages were begging for money. He shared some of his photos with Business Insider.

"There are almost no fat people in North Korea," Chu told Business Insider. "Everyone looks very skinny."

But even North Koreans in cities face poor living conditions. Many live in heavily congested residential towers and often experience power shortages and lifts breakdowns.

And there is not much access to the Internet – people manage with a closed computer network system accessible in only a few places, like this Pyongyang library.

One of the most eloquent aspects of North Korea's life is its army. The country's leader, Kim Jong Un, likes to show his military power by organizing dazzling parades and distributing propaganda photos of vast armies of soldiers on the march.

But it is more rare to capture photos showing the reverse of military life. North Korean soldiers are often malnourished or sick due to rigorous training and lack of food.

When a soldier defected last year, others shot him five times. Surgeons in South Korea then made a shocking discovery as they rushed to heal his wounds: he was riddled with parasites.

The parasitic worms, some 11 inches long, illustrate the poor living conditions in North Korea. The country still uses human excrement to fertilize its crops, a practice that can spread pests.

Defects are not uncommon, but the number of people who did it decreased by 21% last year, to reach 1,127.

South Korea attributes this figure in part to increased security at the border. North Korean soldiers are ruthless when they see people escaping – here are bullet shots after trying to shoot a defector in November.

The country's notorious prison camps are another troubling aspect of life in North Korea, where citizens – some of whom have been convicted of minor offenses that would not be considered crimes in others. countries – can face appalling conditions.

The prisoners of these so-called re-education camps are often hungry and forced to do hard labor. Some survivors reported severe interrogations and even torture. Although there are no photos of the camps, they are visible on Google Earth.

The international community has long condemned North Korea's record of human rights. The United States has also highlighted particularly blatant victims of brutality, such as Ji Seong-ho, who attended President Donald Trump's speech on the state of the Union in January.

Ji left his homeland in 2006. He claims to have traveled thousands of kilometers on crutches after enduring years of hunger, serious injuries resulting from falling on rails and being tortured by North American police. Korean.

"I understand you still keep these crutches as a reminder of the road traveled," Trump said in his State of the Union address, adding, "The story of Seong-ho testifies to the burning desire of every human soul to live in freedom. "

Today, this freedom is still far from reality for many in Kim's North Korea.