Finding a Parking Spot in Pyongyang-Chinese Cars in N. Korea
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...
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