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)

South Korean prostitutes hide their identities as they participate in a rally on September 22, 2005 in Seoul, South Korea. Prostitutes rallied against government law aimed at the s*x industry. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

“Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim (according to Soviet records) (16 February 1941/2 – 17 December 2011), was the supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). He was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling party since 1948, Chairman of the the National Defence Commission of North Korea, and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, the fourth-largest standing army in the world”. – Wikipedia

Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il inspects a military unit in North Korea. (Photo by Korean Central Television/Yonhap)

Koreans spin fire cans during “Jwibulnoli” a South Korean folk game at Han River on February 5, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. The event is part of a “Daeboreum”, a Korean holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the lunar new year. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

South Korean special warfare command soldiers participate in winter military training exercise on January 11, 2012 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. The South Korean troops train in temperatures below -20 degrees celsius to defend the country against any possible attacks from North Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

A South Korean military vehicle drives past barricades at the military check point, near the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating South and North Korea on December 20, 2011 in Paju, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)