Students wearing masks rest amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Seoul, South Korea, August 25, 2020. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

A man runs to help a woman as they attempt to shelter in a locked convenience store during heavy wind and rain as typhoon Maysak hits the Haeundae Beach area of Busan, South Korea, on September 3, 2020. Flights were grounded in South Korea and storm warnings issued on both sides of the Korean peninsula as a typhoon forecast to be one of the most powerful in years made its approach. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

In a photo taken on November 4, 2020 visitors wearing traditional Korean hanbok dress walk beneath yellow ginko leaves in a courtyard at Gyeongbokgung palace in Seoul. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A student wearing a face mask prays before the start of the annual college entrance examination amid the coronavirus pandemic at an exam hall in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, December 3, 2020. South Korean officials are urging people to remain at home if possible and cancel gatherings as about half a million students prepare for a crucial national college exam. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP Photo)

An employee dressed in a Santa Claus costume plays with cats at the Catgarden in Seoul, South Korea, December 14, 2020. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

Divers perform during an event to celebrate the upcoming Christmas at the aquarium in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, December 1, 2023. Christmas is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in South Korea. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

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)

North Korean women soldiers take part in a military parade Saturday, April 15, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea, to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)