By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Pyongyang
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, has made a rare public appearance in front of Western journalists.
Mr Kim appeared, unannounced, at an event in the capital Pyongyang to mark the opening of a new war cemetery.
A delegation of journalists from around the world, including a team from Sky News, has been granted unusual access to the reclusive country as it prepares to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.
Kim Jong-Un opened the new war cemeteryWe arrived at the war cemetery on a bus from the hotel we are instructed to stay in for the duration of our trip.
Our destination remained a mystery as we drove through early morning Pyongyang mist.
On arrival at the cemetery, immaculately built into a hillside just outside the capital city, security was tight but there was still little to suggest that the leader himself might appear.
Many people attended the ceremonyThen, shortly before 9am local time, he strolled onto the parade ground in front of the cemetery to loud applause.
The extraordinary devotion for the leader among the people we saw seemed entirely genuine.
But then people are only granted permission to live in Pyongyang if they are considered, through remarkable background checks, to be loyal.
Among the key figures there was his aunt Kim Kyong HuiMr Kim was surrounded by generals and other senior regime figures including his aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, who is the sister of the former leader Kim Jong-Il.
She is thought to hold significant back-room regime power but had been rumoured to be critically ill. Her appearance on Thursday was the first for many months.
We arrived in the country on a charter plane from the Chinese capital Beijing on Wednesday night.
The Sky News team was taken by bus to the eventOperating as journalists in North Korea is strictly controlled and monitored.
Each broadcaster or newspaper is assigned two so-called guides. In reality they are minders. There are two so that they can watch each other as well as us, such is the level of suspicion here.
Pyongyang is a beautiful city surrounded by green hills. Vast Soviet-like buildings dominate the landscape and everywhere are portraits of the founder of the nation, Kim Il-Song, and his son, Kim Jong-Il, both now dead.
Two minders at the ceremonyImmaculately dressed traffic police stand in street corners, but with no traffic to control. This is one of the most sanctioned countries in the world. It is also one of the poorest.
Ancient trolley-buses limp along but most people seem to walk everywhere. There is little chance of speaking at random to them, though.
An elderly woman makes her way around the cemeteryOur minders - themselves being controlled by an invisible state machine - politely tell us where we can go and who we can talk to.
And so it is extremely hard to get under the skin of this place.
:: Sky News will be broadcasting from inside North Korea for the next five days and is operating under the supervision of the North Korean government.
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