Choo Gaeun of South Korea reacts during competition with Jin Jongoh of South Korea during the mixed 10m air pistol team qualification during Tokyo 2020 Olympics at Asaka Shooting Range in Tokyo, Japan on July 27, 2021. (Photo by Ann Wang/Reuters)

KARA perform on stage during their first solo concert KARASIA at Olympic gymnasium on February 18, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

A guard secures gates of a catfish farm visited by a group of foreign reporters in Pyongyang, North Korea April 17, 2017. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask enjoys a ride on a 350-meter (1148 feet) long water slide during 2015 City Silde Festa in central Seoul, South Korea, July 19, 2015. A 350 meter-long waterslide has been installed in downtown of Seoul, the longest waterslide to be recorded in Korea, according to local media. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

A man pushes her daughter on a cart as they shop at a market in Seoul, South Korea, July 26, 2016. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

“Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival is a rock festival, which is held annually in Incheon, South Korea for three days at the end of July. It is considered as one of the biggest live music events in South Korea. The festival covers various genres of music, but mainly rock music and electronic music. The name came from five main themes of the festival; music, passion, environment friendly, DIY, and friendship”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Festival-goers enjoy a performance during day two of the Pentaport Rock Festival at Dream Park on August 6, 2011 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Photographer Han Youngsoo captured the ordinary people of Korea as the country emerged from war into an age of prosperity. Han Youngsoo: Photographs of Seoul 1956–63 is at the International Center of Photography (ICP), Jersey City, New Jersey, until June 9, 2017. Here: Seoul, Korea. (Photo by Han Youngsoo/The Guardian)

At this year’s Venice Bienniale in Italy, the Korean pavilion has a curious exhibit called “Commissions for Utopia”. It includes renderings from North Korea’s top architects and artists (all anonymous), many of whom studied at the Paekho Institute of Architecture, North Korea’s state-run architectural college, and none of whom have ever left the country. They were asked to create a vision of North Korea’s future sustainable architecture for its expanding tourism industry. Their final products are a glimpse into what it would be like to envision the future after being entirely cut off from the present for almost 70 years. (Photo by Nick Bonner/Kyle Vanhemert/Venice Architecture Biennale)