In this June 17, 2014 photo, a North Korean man takes shelter in the rain next to long propaganda billboards in the town of Samjiyon in North Korea's Ryanggang province. The Associated Press was granted to embark on a weeklong road trip across North Korea to the country’s spiritual summit Mount Paektu. The trip was on North Korea's terms. An AP reporter and photographer couldn't interview ordinary people or wander off course, and government “minders” accompanied them the entire way. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

This picture taken in late December 2022 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 2, 2023 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un meeting with representatives who participated in the 9th meeting of the Korean Boy Scouts during a commemorative photo session in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA via KNS/AFP Photo)

North Korean children wave to people on a Chinese tourist boat on the banks of Yalu River near the Chongsong county of North Korea, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, May 8, 2011. (Photo by Jacky Chen/Reuters)

This picture taken on October 10, 2020 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 11, 2020 shows the military parade during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Workers' Party of Korea at Kim Il-sung Square of Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA via KNS/AFP Photo)

People celebrate France' s victory in the Russia 2018 World Cup final football match between France and Croatia, on July 15, 2018 in Toulouse' s city centre. (Photo by Eric Cabanis/AFP Photo)

In a photo taken on July 29, 2018 instructor Kim Ju Yang (20) holds a North Korean- made assault rifle as she poses for a portrait at the Meari shooting range in Pyongyang. The Meari shooting range offers customers the opportunity to shoot a number of North Korean and foreign- made firearms, most of which have been modifed to fire .22 calibre ammunition costing one US dollar per round. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A photo taken on July 22, 2017 shows beach- goers dancing at the West Sea Barrage beach outside the coastal city of Nampo, southwest of Pyongyang. The West Sea Barrage beach features as a stopping point for foreign tourists, and is a destination for North Korean work groups from the neighbouring area. The beach lies at the end of an eight- kilometre- long barrage that separates the sea from the Taedong River, which runs through Pyongyang. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Female North Korean traffic police officers gather in front of bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to pay their respects in Pyongyang, North Korea on Saturday, February 16, 2013. North Koreans turned out to commemorate what would have been the 71th birthday of Kim Jong Il who died on December 17, 2011. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)