Visitors look up at mock-ups of dinosaur skeletons inside the Museum of Natural History in Pyongyang on September 28, 2016. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

North Koreans perform during the “Arirang” Mass Games at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, as part of celebrations ahead of the 60th anniversary marking the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, in this photo taken by Kyodo July 22, 2013. (Photo by KYODO)

A woman stands in a gift shop in central Rason city, part of the special economic zone northeast of Pyongyang, in this August 30, 2011 file photo. North Korea is a militarized, male-dominated society, but it is women who are making the money as the insular nation allows an unofficial market-based economy to take shape. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Taking the highways in North Korea is a great experience as it allows to see the daily life of the country not controled by the government like in Pyongyang. They connect the main towns of the countries and are totally empty of cars. Here: The kind of scene you can see along the highway. Overloaded trucks but broken down with lot of smoke coming out... I was allowed to make those pics as after lunch, my guides were enjoying the confort of the bus seats and snoring... (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media)

North Korea has closed its borders in fear of the spread of the Ebola virus. But at a time when the secretive state was still welcoming tourists, former aid worker Andrew Macleod made the journey to the repressive nation. Andrew's holiday snaps and camera footage provide a unique insight into the reclusive country, where he came across deserted motorways, metro stations plastered with propaganda and attractive border guards. Here: a female traffic police officer in the snow in February 2013, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by Andrew Macleod/Barcroft Media)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

“North and South Korea staged dueling war games Monday as threatening rhetoric from the rivals rose to the highest level since North Korea rained artillery shells on a South Korean island in 2010”. – Associated Press. Photo: North Korean soldiers with weapons attend military training in an undisclosed location in this picture released by the North’s official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang March 11, 2013. South Korea and U.S. forces are conducting large-scale military drills until the end of April, while the North is also gearing up for a massive state-wide military exercise. North Korea has accused the U.S. of using the military drills in South Korea as a launch pad for a nuclear war and has threatened to scrap the armistice with Washington that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. (Photo by KCNA/Reuters)

A North Korean war veteran is decorated with medals as he attends a parade to celebrate the anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement, Sunday, July 27, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Koreans gathered at Kim Il Sung Square as part of celebrations for the 61st anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)