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)

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)

15-year old American girl Donica Streling meets with members of SHINee (샤이니) at SM Entertainment head office on June 20, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. Donica, diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, visited Seoul, South Korea to meet her favorite K-pop groups SHINee and Super Junior after finding hope in listening to Korean pop. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun)

Revellers enjoy a night out in central Liverpool, northwest England, on December 30, 2020 before hightened Tier 3 restrictions closing hospitality venues, and bars indoor and outdoor socialising between households are imposed in the city amid surging cases of the novel coronavirus. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)

“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)

A mother prays for success for her child in the college entrance examinations at a Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea, November 12, 2015. About 630,000 students on Thursday sat for the annual exams that could lead them to one of the country's top universities. In South Korea, there is no higher achievement than to be accepted by a prestigious university. As a result, many students prepare for these entrance exams from an early age, often studying up to 16 hours a day for years to take this test. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)