Yellow swaths of corn surround a nuclear reactor building in one image, revealing a surprisingly outdated system of gathering and drying crops, and thousands of North Koreans form a bird formation during military practice in another.
In a nation which struggles with famine in some of its poorest regions, the piles of corn drying around the Yongbyon centre is in stark contrast to the country's pursuit of nuclear technology just a few metres away.
Pomp and parade in the country is a collective effort, with tens of thousands taking part in elaborate spectacles shown to only a few dignitaries. The formation of a human bird during practice for the Pyongyang games in Kim II-Sung Square demonstrates the extraordinary discipline that is expected of North Korea's million-man army.
Other images, which have yet to be released, capture the expanding mass graves in the country's gulags – labour camps such as the ones where American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to work – and a prison-worker's mine shaft emitting a mile-long cloud of soot. Juche propaganda is also seen carved into the nation's mountains.
Allison Puccioni, a senior imagery analyst at IHS Jane's in California, said satellite images are perhaps the only way to get an accurate picture of daily life in the clandestine state. Read More
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