Signage: “(The Korean Workers’) Party is never going to forget the comrades of Rakwon (city)”.

Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) is a North Korean political party founded in 1946 in the early years of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)—the state’s primary agency of political power. The KWP controls the electoral system and draws up lists of approved candidates. The KWP continued to hold authority over mass union of various civilian groups such as farmers, youths, and workers in the country.

This building sports the former leaders’ portraits. According to The Guardian, North Korea is a country living under the watchful eyes of its great leaders—millions of portraits of them. The photo above is only a few of many portraits of the deceased former heads of the state that are mandated in every home, office, school, and public place. This is said to be a constant reminder of the Kim dynasty and their influence over the country since the DPRK was first established in 1948. Je Son-Lee, a defector who fled the country in 2011, explained that the two men are treated like gods. He said, “That’s why we have to have their portraits, in order to be with them all the time.”