In this June 14, 2014 photo, portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are illuminated on a building side as the sun rises over Pyongyang. 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)

In this June 16, 2014 photo, North Korean men share a picnic lunch and North Korean-brewed and bottled Taedonggang beer along the road in North Korea's North Hwanghae province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 15, 2014 photo, the remains of lunch sits on a restaurant table in the city of Wonsan, North Korea. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 19, 2014 photo, a North Korean man pushes his bicycle to a village in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 16, 2014 photo, statues of animals playing musical instruments stand along the roadside south of Samsu, North Korea in Ryanggang province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

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. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In June 18, 2014 photo, a boulder lies on a path near the peak of Mount Paektu in North Korea's Ryanggang province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 20, 2014 photo, an exclamation point punctuates a long propaganda slogan in a field in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 17, 2014 photo, a North Korean man sits by a cooking fire he built to roast potatoes and chicken in the town of Samjiyon, in North Korea's Ryanggang province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 15, 2014 photo, an apartment block stands behind hotel room curtains on the main street in Hamhung, North Korea. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 20, 2014 photo, North Korean residents walk on a road along a river in the town of Kimchaek, in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. The once-productive cities along its east coast, like the coal mining town of Kilju and the nearby city of Kimchaek – built around a sprawling but now eerily quiet ironworks complex – have become a rust belt, gritty and relentlessly gray. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 19, 2014 photo, a hotel employee walks in the lobby of a hotel that accommodates foreign visitors in Chongjin, North Korea. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 21, 2014 photo, a man works on his car as others sit next to the sea Wonsan, North Korea. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 16, 2014 photo, farmers walk in a rainstorm with their cattle near the town of Hyesan, North Korea in Ryanggang province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 21, 2014 photo, a group of young North Koreans enjoys a picnic on the beach in Wonsan, North Korea. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 18, 2014 photo, the Associated Press vehicle climbs the slopes of Mount Paektu in North Korea's in North Korea's Ryanggang province. North Koreans venerate Mount Paektu for its natural beauty, but more importantly because it is considered the home of the North Korean revolution. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 16, 2014 photo, boys play soccer in the town of Hyesan in North Korea's Ryanggang province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 20, 2014 photo, young North Korean schoolchildren help to fix pot holes in a rural road in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 20, 2014 photo, North Korean people rest next to the railroad tracks in a town in North Korea's North Hamgyong province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

In this June 21, 2014 photo, a woman walks along an open road southeast of Pyongyang in North Korea's North Hwanghae province. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)