Little Pyongyang, as some refer to New Malden located some 11 miles southwest of central London, is home to purportedly the largest North Korean community outside the Korean Peninsula. But nobody knows for sure, given the clandestine nature of many escapee groups of dubious legal status scattered across the globe. It’s certainly the largest known one in Europe, writes Charlie Campbell. Stroll down New Malden High Street and half the faces and signage are Korean: there are Korean supermarkets, restaurants, hair salons, churches, bakeries, a realtor and karaoke bar. Children attend the Korean-language kindergarten and school; the elderly are cared for at a Korean elderly community center. The fact that North Koreans can all claim South Korean citizenship prompted the U.K. authorities to tighten up. A pillar of British asylum policy is that those with a “safe haven” elsewhere are encouraged to avail themselves of that opportunity. In 2008, the British government came to an agreement with South Korea’s government to check the fingerprints of North Koreans claiming asylum in the U.K. Those who had previously passed through South Korea and were registered in its citizenship database would be rejected. The U.K.’s rejection rate of North Korean asylum applicants increased from 7.4% in 2007 to 80.1% in 2009. While technically every U.K. asylum application is considered individually, ever since “it’s basically been a blanket rejection for every [North Korean] coming in,” says Michael Glendenning, the founder of North Korea, an NGO in New Malden that helps the community with language, education, legal and mental health needs. Cognizant that the door is effectively shut, the number of North Koreans coming to the U.K. has declined to single digits in recent years. Read more at the link in our bio. Photographs by Michael Vince Kim for TIME