In the photo, there are North Koreans waiting to sell human waste to be used as fertilizer. Michal told Mirror.co.uk that they were taken to nice places where “everything was very stage-managed”. This was one of the first things they saw—a part of a weird-looking slum, which looked like an “Oriental version of the communist-era Eastern Europe” where there are lots of socialist architecture of North Korean leaders. Aside from controlled photographs, they were also not allowed to leave their hotel rooms at night.

According to the photographer, the scene was staged, as there were no other trains that day. Michael said that he may not be able to prove whether or not the scenes were fake, but many of the scenes they saw looked “highly unnatural”, Amateur Photograph reported. The citizens appeared to be playing out at Pyongyang’s main station, with elegant passengers “happily” milling around despite having no other trains for departure. There is even a waiting room that is regally-decorated but is said to be typically empty.