Associated Press photographer Wong Maye-E tries to get her North Korean subjects to open up as much as is possible in an authoritarian country with no tolerance for dissent and great distrust of foreigners. She has taken dozens of portraits of North Koreans over the past three years, often after breaking the ice by taking photos with an instant camera and sharing them. Her question for everyone she photographs: What is your motto? Their answers reflect both their varied lives and the government that looms incessantly over all of them. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

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)

Coco Gauff celebrates during her victory over Aryna Sabalenka of Russia in the women's final of US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 09, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

At a beauty contest to select the nation's Queen of Height during the first national convention of Tall People's Clubs in New York on July 29, 1949, little Charlie Young, only three feet, eleven inches tall, acting as judge, had a tough time making up his mind for the choice. The national minimum height requirement for women members is 5 feet 10 inches, and for men, 6 feet. (Photo by Robert Kradin/AP Photo)

In a photo taken on July 29, 2018 instructor Kim Ju Yang (20) holds a North Korean- made assault rifle as she poses for a portrait at the Meari shooting range in Pyongyang. The Meari shooting range offers customers the opportunity to shoot a number of North Korean and foreign- made firearms, most of which have been modifed to fire .22 calibre ammunition costing one US dollar per round. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A photo taken on July 22, 2017 shows beach- goers dancing at the West Sea Barrage beach outside the coastal city of Nampo, southwest of Pyongyang. The West Sea Barrage beach features as a stopping point for foreign tourists, and is a destination for North Korean work groups from the neighbouring area. The beach lies at the end of an eight- kilometre- long barrage that separates the sea from the Taedong River, which runs through Pyongyang. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

In a photo taken on November 27, 2016 a female traffic police officer directs traffic on a road in Pyongyang. Believed to be hand-picked for their looks, Pyongyang's female traffic police are a familiar sight at intersections around the capital, where traffic volumes have noticeably increased in recent years. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)