A fan of K-pop idol boy band BTS poses for photographs with cut-out of BTS at a pop-up store selling BTS goods in Seoul, South Korea, December 24, 2019. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

In this Wednesday, April 12, 2017, photo, waitresses wait outside a restaurant in Pyongyang, North Korea. A generational divide is quietly growing in North Korea, often hidden behind relentless propaganda. On the streets there are young women in not-quite mini-skirts and teenage boys with baseball hats cocked sideways, K-pop style. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

A propaganda troupe perform a flag- waving routine outside the central railway station in Pyongyang, North Korea on September 27, 2017. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

In this photo taken on April 14, 2022, people visit the Light Festival to celebrate the 110th birth anniversary of late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. (Photo by Kim Won Jin/AFP Photo)

A woman wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus gets fever checked before going into the Pyongyang Railway Station in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, August 13, 2020. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

Buddhist monks wait for a lantern parade ahead of the upcoming birthday of Buddha at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Firefighters take part in the bodybuilding event during a firefighting skills contest at the National Fire Service Academy in Gongju, South Korea on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Shin Hyeon-jong)

Foreign tourists who visited the “Boryeong Mud Festival” venue in Boryeong-si, Chungcheongnam-do on the July 19th, 2024 are having fun rolling around in a mud bath. The 27th Boryeong Mud Festival this year will be held until the 4th of next month. Last year, more than 1.6 million tourists visited the festival. (Phoot by Shin Hyeon-jong)