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)

In this Friday, August. 17, 2018, photo, a North Korean waitress prepares to serve dinner to Chinese tourists at the Pegaebong hotel in Samjiyong in North Korea. Chinese businesspeople and tourists are once again flowing over the borders – several large tourist groups were in Samjiyon last week – and South Korean officials are seriously considering ways to help the North improve its roads and railways. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Winti spiritual leader Ramon Mac-Nack (2nd L) looks on as as his bride Melissa Karwafodi (2nd R) hands a gourd to a Maroon priest (L) as they are wedded in the first Winti marriage ever to be held in public, in district Para, Suriname, November 16, 2015. The Winti religion, which formed centuries ago out of elements of different religious traditions that African slaves brought with them to Suriname, was considered a form idolatry and prohibited by law since the days of slavery until it was finally officially recognized in 1971. (Photo by Ranu Abhelakh/Reuters)

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)

In this Thursday, June 14, 2018, file photo, students wear virtual reality goggles during a science class at Pyongyang Teachers' University, a teacher training college, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

North Korean military participate in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on early October 11, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/KCNA)

This picture taken on February 8, 2023 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 9, 2023 shows jets flying past during a military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA via KNS/AFP Photo)

People attend the New Year's eve gala of youth and students at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, December 31, 2023. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)