In Pyongyang, rare glimpses of everyday life

Foreign journalists invited to Pyongyang for this week's Korea Workers' Party Congress have had to follow an official tour,meaning that meeting people and photographing everyday life happens from the tour bus window or during brief stops.

Farmer Cho Yong Pyo runs the Jang Chon model farm outside Pyongyang.He is one of very few local people that journalists on the tourhave met so far.

The farm is a regular stop on the official tour for foreign journalists.

"Korea Speed" reads the sign at the Jang Chon farm. The North Korea mantra refers to accomplishing things faster than other countries.

The inside of a kitchen at the Jang Chon model farm. Three thousand people live and work in the community.

Journalists got to see flashesof ordinary life in Pyongyang.

North Koreansshop for groceriesat a local department store.

Bicycles are ubiquitous in the North Korean capital.

A painstaking effort goes into sprucing up this lamppost with a coat of paint.

Speaking to the man wasn't on the official agenda, but journalists were not stopped when they ventured away to photograph hiswork.

Journalists heard adetailedhistory of local monuments and museums.

A tour guide at the Arch of Triumph wasone of the many traditionally clad guides along the tour route.

Researchers live on the so-called 'Scientist Street.'

The buildings on this street house academics and researchers who live there free of charge.

Children performed at the Mangyongdae Children's Palace.

It's described to visitors as an extra-curricular facility, but this is no casual after-school leisure centre. The children who take music, art and dance classes here are engaged in intensive study.