In 1982, British photographer Nick Danziger set out on an 18-month journey along the ancient Silk Road. Disguised as an itinerant Muslim, he walked through Turkey, explored the world of the ayatollahs in Iran, illegally entered Afghanistan, dodged fire from Russian helicopter gunships and became the first foreigner to cross into China via the Khunjerab Pass in Pakistan since the 1949 revolution. The photographs he took resulted in the bestselling book Danziger's Travels: Beyond Forbidden Frontiers.

Thirty years later, in August 2013, Danziger decided to explore another frontier: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In the cities of Pyongyang, Nampo, Wonsan and Sariwon, Danziger encouraged people to share details of their lives that would illustrate the similarities between North Koreans and others around the world, and documented people doing everyday things, such as bathing in the sea or waiting for a tram.

He also captured the less ordinary: a decorated hero of the Korean war on his way to Pyongyang's Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in his Mercedes and dancers practising ahead of the Arirang mass games.