Part 6 of 6 in our Inside the Hermit Kingdom series on the people and culture of North Korea. Worldfocus multimedia producer Ben Piven writes about the stark contrast between the stagnant North Korean economy and the booming economies of China and South Korea to the north and south.

Part 4 of 6 of our Inside the Hermit Kingdom series on the people and culture of North Korea. Worldfocus multimedia producer Ben Piven writes about popular music, food and beer in the most isolated country on earth. Believe it or not, North Koreans know about Beyonce and Michael Jackson.

Part 3 of 6 in our series on the people and culture of North Korea. Worldfocus multimedia producer Ben Piven writes about his encounter with North Korean Major Im Dong-chul while on the northern side of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas.

Part 1 of 6 in our Inside the Hermit Kingdom multimedia series. In August, Worldfocus web producer Ben Piven traveled to the 2009 Arirang Games in Pyongyang, North Korea. The socialist mass games performance features 100,000 performers and runs six nights a week for over two months.