North Korea, famously secretive since closing its borders during Covid-19, was recently glimpsed in rare drone images shared by a Reddit user. About a year before the country briefly reopened to Western tourists, Reddit user XiaoHao2 claimed they flew a drone from China over the border into North Korea. They posted, “Drone pics of North Korea, I was in China, my drone flew across the border.”

The images, taken from high above a metropolitan area, show a city dominated by large buildings adorned with portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Notably, the streets appear “eerily empty,” despite it being daylight.

Some photos even show people on the ground pointing at the drone. One Reddit user remarked, “Am I tripping or is there no street drainage at all? Definitely no traffic lights.” Another added, “This is close enough to being an actual city that it’s disturbing.”

Many commenters were more concerned about the risks the drone pilot took. One warned, “That seems like a dangerous game,” while another joked, “Guy singlehandedly invaded N. Korea.” Others laughed about the simplicity of the operation, “We spent hundreds of millions on spy satellites and could have just used a $500 drone?”