A fireworks display decorates the night sky to celebrate the New Year, as crowds of people look on, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, early Friday, January 1, 2021. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

Visitors take photos of Fu Bao, a giant panda, at Everland amusement park in Yongin, south of Seoul, South Korea, 25 February 2024. The panda will be displayed to the public until 03 March, before returning to China in early April. The female panda, which was born to giant panda Ai Bao and her partner, Le Bao, at the Everland amusement park in Yongin, south of Seoul, in 2020, will be returned to China under an international agreement. (Photo by Yonhap/EPA)

A woman directs traffic in the pouring rain in Pyongyang, North Korea on May 3, 2016. The city is preparing for the Workers' Party Congress starting on May 6th. It will be the first time since 1980 that the ruling party has convened. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

People take a walk among cherry blossoms at a park in Seoul, South Korea on April 6, 2022. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

A little girl stands next to a painted buffalo during the “Buffalo Painting” contest that is part of the Tich Dien festival in Ha Nam province, Vietnam, 10 February 2019. Artists from all over the country have gathered for the festival which attracts thousand of residents and visitors. Tich Dien festival features the importance of agriculture and the role of farmers in the vietnamese society and contributes to preserving the local cultural values. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA/EFE)

A participant kisses a trout after catching it with his bare hands during a trout catching contest at a pool in Hwacheon, South Korea, Saturday, January 7, 2023. The contest is part of an annual ice festival which draws over one million visitors every year. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Vincent Yu is a multiple award winner who won Honorable Mention in the 2013 Photographer of the Year category for Pictures of the Year International. Photo: A statue of Hotei Buddha sits in the debris in the tsunami-destroyed town of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan Friday, April 1, 2011. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

Japanese Yuuka Hasumi, 17, and Ibuki Ito, 17, also from Japan, who want to become K-pop stars, perform at an Acopia School party in Seoul, South Korea, March 16, 2019. Acopia is a prep school offering young Japanese a shot at K-pop stardom, teaching them the dance moves, the songs and also the language. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)