S'porean photographer gives world a 360-view of N.Korea

Ever since 2013, his panoramic images have been giving the world a look into North Korea.

Now, Singaporean freelance photographer Aram Pan has done something that no one else has done – create the first 360-degree video of the secretive nation.

Using an Entaniya fisheye lens mounted on a modified GoPro, the 39-year-old was able to create an interactive video that allows viewers to pan around the video during the 19-minute-long clip – effectively placing you beside Mr Pan on his journey.

For this trip, Mr Pan and his tour group – which comprised fellow travelers from the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, Lithuania and Holland – opted to walk into North Korea via Tumen in China instead of flying into the captial, Pyongyang.

Mr Aram Pan crosses the bridge linking the Chinese city of Tumen and Namyang in North Korea. PHOTO COURTESY OF MR ARAM PAN (www.facebook.com/dprk360)

Mr Pan told The New Paper: "What really puzzled me was the extremely relaxed security on both sides and the porous nature of the border.

"There was nothing but a river no more than 50m across at the narrowest point and what looked like a flimsy barbed wire fence on the Chinese side.

"There wasn’t even a fence or border patrols on the North Korean side - it was extremely puzzling considering many of the tragic stories I’ve heard."

PHOTO COURTESY OF MR ARAM PAN (www.facebook.com/dprk360)

Accommodating and friendly

While people tend to pay more attention to him because he stands out, Mr Pan says that the "accommodating" locals he met were friendly and curious about him even though he was openly shooting and filming in the notoriously secretive country.

His work has even managed to put a halt to proceedings at the North Korean side of the Panmunjom demilitarised zone on the North-South border.

Mr Pan said: "We had arrived there without prior notice and the government official was trying to explain to the guards and officers there what I was doing.

"To simplify matters, I whipped out my iPhone and showed them samples of my work.

"All the military personnel immediately left their posts and crowded around to play with the 360 panoramas on my iPhone.

"It was a surreal moment as everyone put aside their duties to just chill out with me for around 10 minutes. You can almost imagine the guards on the South Korean side watching all this and wondering what the heck is going on over there."

PHOTO COURTESY OF MR ARAM PAN (www.facebook.com/dprk360)

Camera shy

Even so, the North Koreans do have their limits.

"Perhaps what really gets to them is when someone points a big DSLR with a long lens at them," said Mr Pan.

"They automatically shy away from such huge cameras and I’m seriously thinking of ditching my cumbersome D810 in favour of one of those small mirrorless cameras.

"As for the 360 video camera, it was more a novelty to the locals with it’s odd 360 degree lens. The DSLR was the main distraction to them."

To view more of Mr Pan's work, you can visit his website at www.dprk360.com or check out his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dprk360.