A tourist's glimpse of Pyongyang: 'Everything was spotless'

"When the plane landed, nobody moved. Everyone was quiet. It was the first sign to me that we were really in North Korea."

Auke Boersma is a Dutch advertising executive who recently travelled to North Korea's capital of Pyongyang as a tourist. Like many who sign up for the annual Pyongyang marathon, it's a chance to see the much-discussed, mostly secretive nation that occupies headlines but rarely offers the outside world a peek inside.

SEE ALSO: BBC journalist expelled from North Korea

Boersma, who works for Light Reaction in Singapore, told Mashable he was keen to go because he wanted to see how accurately the hermit kingdom is portrayed in outside media. Read more...

More about Pyongyang Marathon, North Korea, and World