Reuters reports https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/even-north-korea-someones-your-parking-spot-2026-05-12/ on the recent surge in private cars in the DPRK.
North Korea's capital is experiencing a surge in passenger cars, creating traffic jams for the first time and necessitating new parking lots and EV charging infrastructure to accommodate the influx of vehicles, according to three recent visitors and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters.
That a car culture is flourishing at all in one of the world's most heavily sanctioned and economically underdeveloped states is striking enough. Yet the signs are everywhere. At several hotels in Pyongyang, cars now fill parking spaces and spill into adjacent streets. Vehicles surround the Gold Lane bowling alley and Rakrang Market, a suburban hub for groceries. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un nodded to the trend in April by visiting an auto-service center where he inspected various vehicles, their make and model concealed conspicuously under silver cloth.
The burgeoning auto trade doesn't show up directly in official statistics because exporting cars to North Korea is prohibited under U.N. sanctions. But shipments of related goods such as tires, mirrors and lubricants from China are soaring, Chinese customs data show, revealing growing demand for parts and other essentials as more North Koreans get behind the wheel.
The boom follows changes to North Korean law that formalized private car ownership over the past two years, allowing licensed drivers to buy one vehicle per household through state-certified dealers. Owning a car is still mostly the preserve of the elite and the entrepreneurial class known as donju, analysts say.
They've got a ways to go before they can match the traffic jams on the 405 in LA, the yellow license plates for privately owned vehicles only have five digits...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pTamok on Saturday May 30, @03:16PM (7 children)
Looks like they are following the well known personal transportation development path.
But Honda ceased manufacturing the [asahi.com]Super Cub [wikipedia.org] C50 last year, so things are going to change - electric bikes seem to be the replacement.
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Saturday May 30, @10:30PM (5 children)
What is interesting to me is how simultaneously Europe is going the other way. From Multiple cars per household, to one (small) car per household, to (electric and normal) bikes, and eventually pedestrian (with public transport). I expect more and more people to walk down this path as the cost of living goes up and up.
It's odd as I remember the videos of China in the 80s/90s, with masses of them on foot or bikes/mopeds, with cars only for the rich/powerful. Yet now China is packed full of cars, North Korea car use is apparently booming, while cars are becoming (once again) a luxury in Europe.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31, @03:18AM
> From Multiple cars per household, to one (small) car per household, ...
Really? Do you have a citation? This page suggests otherwise, although it's not sliced the same way you did per household--
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20240117-1 [europa.eu]
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Sunday May 31, @08:52AM (3 children)
The problem with public transport is if you need to carry any non-trivial sized load. A lot of modern buses and trains are luggage hostile.
One needs to have reasonably-priced easy access to things that can carry non-trivial loads.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31, @12:36PM (2 children)
> One needs to have reasonably-priced easy access to things that can carry non-trivial loads.
Assuming one has decent cycling skills, then carrying large loads by bicycle are possible. You've probably seen pictures like this one before,
https://www.123rf.com/photo_166947338_in-rwanda-people-often-use-bicycles-to-carry-large-loads.html [123rf.com]
But if you go image searching for them now, beware of "AI" fakes--I saw plenty of slop before turning up this photo that looks like what I've seen pre-slop.
It's not just the third world either, a friend in Toronto was a ceramic-tile-setter. He ran his business for years using a cargo bike for all his tools (heavy!) while having the tile delivered to the customer site.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Sunday May 31, @04:03PM
I don't need, or want, to own a cargo-bike. I'd love to be able to rent one locally.
If you are not a very experienced cyclist, you don't want to be carrying a 70 kg washing machine on a cargo bike, ether.
And building supplies, like 5-metre long bits of structural timber, or sheets of plasterboard. Or moving furniture (easy chairs, sofas, beds) from one location to another.
Moving bulk 'stuff' can't be done on public transport, and while cargo-bikes have a role, they can't do everything, and not everyone is in a fit state to use them: hence the need to be able to easily, and cheaply access small, and large, vans, and flatbed trucks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02, @02:19AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 02, @02:16AM
I don't blame the top dude for doing some ruthless stuff to stay in power. Because his position is something like being born on top of the tiger. You are likely to die if you get off or fall off.
The generals that keep you in power will likely kill you and take over if you suddenly try that "democracy" idea. Also "US style freedoms" are overrated, you can use the US as an example of why. So there's no good reason to try to change the country towards that sort of thing. There are other improvements that can genuinely help the people that won't get you as the dictator killed. Agriculture, transport, mining, education, construction, trade, power generation and distribution, reserves. Keep the improvements steady but not uncontrolled and you can stay in power for decades. With AI you can likely improve education while censoring stuff - and you should convince the smart ones with carrot and stick, that encouraging stuff like revolution is not in anyone's interest except the next dictator that takes over. Keep the game going and everyone wins.