Korean Mass Games

These are the amazing close up pictures of North Korea's mass games - after photographers were previously banned from taking shots so close to the dazzling formation dances.They feature over 100,000 people in the performing art displays that include tens of thousands of gymnasts synchronizing movements in line with a background of card-turners who entertain spectators. About 20,000 of them form the background to the show holding large books whose pages flip simultaneously to produce the huge displays.The rapid change of images sees one card exchanged for another in a swift and synchronized movement that takes hours of rehearsals and detailed choreography.Photographer Werner Kranwetvogel, 40, captured the stunning shots after he gained rare access to the communist country's public displays.

Other great stories
A SMILEY GECKO SHEDS ITS SKIN AS HEATWAVE HITS BRITAIN

STRETCHING his little legs in the air, a smiley leaf-tailed gecko breaks free from his old, scaly skin .

FISHERMEN IN MYANMAR BALANCE ON ONE LEG

Fishermen in Myanmar have perfected an unusual fishing technique by carefully balancing on one leg .

BRANDED BY VICIOUS BOYFRIEND'S SOVEREIGN RING

A deranged dad beat his girlfriend so savagely in a vicious 30 minute attack that the indent of his sovereign ring was left on her face .

BETRAYED BY CANCER CON WOMAN!

Recovering from a rare form of breast cancer, Deborah Barnett, 43, of Stoke-on-Trent, thought she'd made it through the worst, but she was betrayed by former colleague Sandra Ramsay, of Mow Cop Road, Mow Cop, Stoke-on-Trent .

DADDY DAY CARE: CARDINALFISH FATHER CARRIES EGGS IN MOUTH

It’s a role reversal in the Visayan Sea as HUNDREDS of tiny, glistening eggs are carried around inside the mouth of their cardinalfish father .

WOMAN SPENDS £10K TRANSFORMING INTO DISNEY PRINCESSES

Meet the real life princess who has spent £10k transforming herself into nine Disney beauties .

NAKED AMBITION: WORLD’S LARGEST SKINNY DIP

Bathers on a New Zealand beach stripped naked and took to the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to shatter the record for the world's largest skinny dip .

PARROT RIDES ON THE TUBE

Pic By HotSpot Media - PARROT RIDES ON THE TUBE - THIS pretty boy could be forgiven for forgetting his Oyst-aaarrrgh-card .

FOUND NEMO

A curious clownfish peaks through the tentacles of a sea anemone .

FUNERAL COMPANY MAKE DIAMONDS FROM CREMATED REMAINS

SPARKLING bright inside their box, it’s hard to believe these diamonds are made from the cremated remains of the deceased .

TRANSGENDER WOMAN SPENDS £25K TO BECOME BEAUTY QUEEN

A transgender woman has beaten the bullies after spending £25K on surgery to become a beauty pageant queen .

CHINESE FISHERMEN FISHING WITH RARE TECHNIQUE

SAILING peacefully across a river in the early morning light, a fisherman in China keeps a 1000 year old tradition alive .