Hiroji Kubota Mass games for Kim Il-sung's birthday celebration. Pyongyang, North Korea. 1982.
“Bob (Robert Capa) and his younger brother, Cornell, must be giggling at the choice of my picture. Is it close eno
(...) ugh to be a good photograph? A very good question. North Korea, according to most people, must be the furthest place on planet Earth. Not for me. I was taken to this opaque country by the editor of the influential Japanese socio-political magazine Sekai (‘World’), who understood the history surrounding Japan’s colonization of the Korean Peninsula. He tried hard to educate Japanese to the brutal reality. In October 1978, I went to the ‘kingdom’ with him, as a guest of none other than Kim Il-sung. I was received by the president, who let me photograph him in his office for 30 minutes. I gather I am still the only photographer given such a privilege. I have taken full advantage of this. It has taken 40 years and 20 or so difficult visits. I shall do a monumental book on it.
Bob, Cornell, is my picture close enough?”
— Hiroji Kubota © Hiroji Kubota | Magnum Photos