Video shows aerial view of North Korea's capital Pyongyang.

The above video is a 360 degree flight over a major city which wouldn't be notable except for the fact that it flew over the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Normally such a thing wouldn't be very interesting, but it is rare to get any kind of peek into the hermit kingdom of North Korea.

A few things that struck me. First, I was amazed at how little traffic there is in this video. The city has more than 3 million people but I saw less traffic than in my metro area that only has around 300,000. Not many people have the ability to drive in North Korea, even in the capital. My guess is that everyone that was driving were people that were working or were fairly high up in the regime. Either way though it is beyond creepy to see such a major city look so deserted.

Second, I was fairly amazed at the contrast between some of the buildings. A few of them looked very modern and even futuristic but it was contrasted by scenes that would look more familiar in the poorest of post-Soviet states in Eastern Europe. Once you get to the outskirts of the city it looks even worse than that. It's clear though that some of the very little wealth North Korea has has been invested into new buildings.

Finally, I was fairly surprised to see so much pollution. There were a couple of factories that were just belching out smoke and created a major bank of smog over the city. That can't be healthy for the people that live there and you would think that they would have built whatever was putting out that pollution further away from the city. My guess is that fixing pollution is very low on the list of priorities for North Korea.

I also think that this just goes to show how much potential North Korea could have if they didn't have to suffer under Kim Jong Un. The countryside was beautiful and I could see Pyongyang as a modern vibrant city if they actually had freedom. If it wasn't for the brutal regime and it's insane leader, it might be a place I want to visit someday. Maybe someday that will be possible but as long as the Kim family rules, I don't see it happening.