Oh yes, I agree with all of that except the equivalent of slums.... he took them to the real Pyongyang after straying off of Potemkin Village Road. The PAO’s who didn’t take away the memory cards from the cameras is going to be in deep kimchi too.
Even the real Pyongyang that reporters and visitors don't get to see is far better than the rural countryside.
As for the non-confiscation of the camera cards: I read the accompanying article in the Korean press. The reporters seem as surprised as anyone else that their camera cards weren't confiscated, or at least the curtains drawn on the bus to end photography. My guess is that the North Korean PAO ladies were given directions about managing media, followed them to the letter as they were trained to do, and now are in huge trouble for doing precisely what they were told.
No makeup or hairspray for those ladies for a very long time, unless they can convince people the fault was much higher than them.
I've said it many times: If you want to make a car better, give it to the Asians. They'll make a thousand minuscule minor improvements because of their attention to details we never noticed, and the end result may be a better product. But don't expect Asia to have a Henry Ford who invented cars in the first place. The educational system simply does not promote the innovative thinking and risk-taking that's required to make major advances in technical fields, let alone academic fields.