North Korea may be making the headlines like never before but the world’s graffiti artists have been featuring the Hermit Kingdom’s leaders for years.

When it comes to North Korea, there’s a lot to look down on. Take the country’s unique leadership – a communist dynasty? Who knows what the late Karl Marx might think of that (though it’s not hard to guess). In any case, NK-themed graffiti and street art should never be looked down upon, at least not by those living outside North Korea. Flickr user _eddie999_ brings us our lead image featuring Team America: World Police’s take on Kim Jong-il, snapped in Brighton, UK early in 2012. Just below, Mauricio Balvanera’s (maubrowncow) 2007 photo of a stenciled North Korean soldier with a flower in the muzzle of his rifle gazes out from a wall near the Toy Factory Lofts in Los Angeles, California.

The Sun Is (Still) There

Kim Il-sung (“Kim become the sun”) was North Korea’s first supreme leader – the “Great Leader” in official parlance – who held power from 1948 to his death from natural causes in 1994. Among his most lasting accomplishment was the establishment of the Kim ruling dynasty, now into its third generation in the form of Kim Jong-un. Speaking of lasting accomplishments, Flickr user Loïc Brohard snapped the above artwork captioned “Vote Kim il Sung” in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in April of 2010.

The Son Is Here

Kim Jong-il inherited power from his father in 1994 and was known in North Korea as the “Dear Leader”. Flickr user Larry Jones (westbymidwest) captured this full-color portrait of Kim Jong-il in full panhandler mode on September 20th of 2009 at the Albany Bulb, an artificial landfill peninsula extending westward from the the east shore of San Francisco Bay. It’s uncertain whether the splash of orange paint across the portrait’s “HELP” sign is part of the original composition or a later amendment.

A Spectacles Of Himself

Kim Jong-il was over 50 years old when he assumed North Korea’s leadership but he had been groomed for the position since the early 1980s. Kim the Second raised the cult of personality established and encouraged by his father to ever-greater heights. The stencil above, found in NYC’s Koreatown district, dates from 2009 and was captured in April of that year by Flickr user e.yamasaki.

The Future’s So Bright…

Kim Jong-il’s designer shades take center stage in the above NYC photo pastiche snapped in late 2011 by Flickr user allan molho (amolho4). Sources state Kim Jong-il was a fervent fan of Western cinema, boasting a collection of over 20,000 titles including every Elvis Presley flick. His fascination with “The King” in his late-1960’s rhinestone jumpsuit phase may have influenced Kim’s sartorial preferences, at least when it came to prescription and fashion eyewear.

Thanks, Obama

First rule of tinfoil-hat prognostication and doomsday cult propaganda: never predict near-future events! The unknown creator of the above paste-up mini-manifesto evidently didn’t get that memo. To their credit, they did manage to evoke the spirits (and images) of Lincoln, Churchill and an alarmingly youthful FDR to add weight to their shrill Cassandra callout. Bonus: stating “Prime minister of North Korea said so its the God truth.” Kudos to Flickr users shoehorn99 and allan molho (amolho4) for capturing these ravings in August of 2008 and April of 2009, respectively.

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Nk Ink North Korea Graffiti Stencils Street Art

The infamous Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang may have stolen the spotlight but North Korea can boast many other examples of unusual cutting-edge architecture.

The Korea Central Zoo (also known as the Pyongyang Central Zoo) was founded in 1959 but recently underwent an extensive makeover, re-opening in July of 2016. The zoo was and continues to be criticized for exhibits that include a chain-smoking chimpanzee and various breeds of dogs. Canines are forbidden to be kept as pets in the capital city, ostensibly for hygienic reasons.

We’re here to discuss architecture, however, and when it comes to the Central Zoo the highlight has to be the huge tiger-head entrance archway. Rather impressive, unless you’re an easily frightened child (or adult). At least the scaredy-cats can find some solace at the turtle-shaped Reptile Enclosure.

Handball Hall

Handball is kind of a big deal in North Korea and the North Korea women’s national handball team has competed at the Asian Women’s Handball Championship no less than six times since 1991 – though they’ve never finished higher than third. The team practices at the strikingly angular and not at all ball-shaped Handball Hall located on Chongchun Street in Pyongyang’s “city of sports” district.

We don’t have a date for the first photo but the image just above snapped by Flickr user Aaron Geddes (Gedsman) in March of 2016 displays some subtle differences.

International Cinema Hall

The International Cinema Hall isn’t in use very often as its main raison d’etre is hosting the Pyongyang International Film Festival every other year since 1987.

The sprocket-shaped building sits cheek-by-jowl to a golf course (you read that correctly) on the island of Yanggakdo, located in the Taedong River running through downtown Pyongyang.

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Beyond Brutalism Cutting Edge North Korean Architecture

Started in 1987 and still not complete, North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel is perhaps its most potent architectural symbol, and an odd legacy for an odd and secretive leader. The 105-floor, pyramid-shaped hotel has towered over the city of Pyongyang in a mostly abandoned state since 1992, when construction was halted due to a period of economic crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The 1,080-foot-tall (330-meter) tower was slated to be completed this year, but it retains its title as the tallest unoccupied building in the world. It was initially intended to be complete by the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students in June 1989, at which point it would have been the world’s tallest hotel; however, it was eclipsed in 2009 by the spire atop the Rose Tower in Dubai.

For the sixteen years in which the tower was abandoned, it was a glaring concrete eyesore. Called “The Worst Building in the History of Mankind” by Esquire Magazine, the 3,000-room hotel has sucked up more than two percent of North Korea’s gross domestic product, while a large number of the nation’s citizens go hungry. Why would Kim Jong Il have believed that this city, which is so poor it can’t afford to light up the streets at night, would need to accommodate so many visitors?

(all images via: Wikimedia Commons)

Construction resumed on the hotel in 2008, and in 2011, the mirrored facade was finally completed thanks to an influx of $180 million from an Egyptian telecommunications company. The group that reportedly manages the hotel has refused to give an expected completion date, saying “Market entry is not currently possible.” The fate of the hotel remains unclear.