PYONGYANG, North Korea – In a nation historically plagued by famine and nuclear tensions, residents of North Korea’s capital are now confronting an entirely different challenge: finding somewhere to park their cars.
Pyongyang is witnessing an unprecedented explosion in private vehicle ownership, leading to the country’s first traffic jams and forcing officials to construct new parking facilities and electric vehicle charging stations, according to three recent visitors and satellite analysis conducted by Reuters.
The emergence of automobile culture in one of the globe’s most sanctioned and economically isolated countries is remarkable. Evidence appears throughout the city – hotel parking areas overflow with vehicles that spill onto neighboring streets, cars crowd around the Gold Lane bowling center and Rakrang Market shopping area. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un acknowledged this development in April when he toured an automotive service facility, examining various vehicles that were deliberately covered with silver tarps to hide their brands.
While official trade records don’t reflect this automotive surge due to United Nations sanctions prohibiting car exports to North Korea, Chinese customs information reveals skyrocketing shipments of related products like tires, mirrors, and lubricants, indicating rising demand for automotive components as more North Koreans begin driving.
This automotive revolution follows recent modifications to North Korean legislation that officially recognized private vehicle ownership within the last two years, permitting licensed drivers to purchase one car per family through government-approved dealerships. Vehicle ownership remains primarily limited to elite citizens and the entrepreneurial class called donju, according to regional experts.
Reuters investigated how Pyongyang’s emerging automobile obsession is changing the city and China’s role – as the world’s largest car exporter – in meeting this demand. Journalists analyzed numerous satellite photographs and confirmed social media posts displaying increased traffic and foreign vehicles in North Korea, while interviewing more than ten sources including business leaders, diplomatic officials, and recent country visitors.
Peter Ward, a research fellow at Seoul’s Sejong Institute think tank, explained that North Korea’s automotive policies represent part of a wider effort to bring private economic activities under government oversight. Kim has permitted personal car ownership because it directs consumer spending through state enterprises – vehicles sold by government dealers, serviced by state providers, and refueled at government gas stations.
“It thus stimulates consumption, and also regularizes what previously was a burgeoning black-market trade,” Ward told Reuters.
North Koreans’ driving enthusiasm is transforming more than Pyongyang’s street appearance. Some experts believe it’s also increasing reliance on China, North Korea’s primary trading partner and the source of most vehicles now filling its streets.
China’s foreign ministry informed Reuters that China and North Korea maintain friendly neighborly relations with normal trade exchanges. The ministry avoided directly addressing Chinese vehicle flows to North Korea but stated China requires companies to conduct trade “lawfully and compliantly.”
North Korea’s Beijing embassy and its United Nations mission in New York did not respond to inquiries about the country’s vehicle surge.
Pyongyang license plates were historically blue or black, signifying state or military ownership. However, yellow plates designated for private cars are becoming commonplace, two recent visitors reported.
Aram Pan, a Singapore photographer operating a North Korea-focused Instagram account, said he was amazed to encounter a traffic jam in Pyongyang during October, his 20th country visit.
“Main roads have become bottleneck points simply because there are now too many cars,” he said. “I definitely saw over a hundred yellow-plated cars.”
Most vehicles Pan observed were Chinese brands, he noted.
A foreign business person who regularly visits North Korea reported that central Pyongyang parking has become challenging, with many spaces informally managed by attendants collecting fees. In October, state media showed Kim touring a new hospital featuring an underground parking garage – a feature the businessman described as unusual in the capital.
Electric vehicle infrastructure remains limited, but charging stations for electric taxis have started appearing, according to the businessman and a diplomat.
The exact number of private cars on North Korean roads remains unclear. However, five-digit license plates have recently emerged. One video and one image posted on Chinese social media since March by foreigners in North Korea, verified by Reuters, display vehicles with yellow plates and registration numbers in the 10,000s.
Jung Chang-hyun, a North Korea analyst and director of Seoul’s Korean Peace and Economy Institute think tank, told Reuters the total private car count in North Korea could exceed 20,000 within the next year.
United Nations sanctions targeting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have prohibited vehicle supplies to the country since December 2017. Officially, China exported only two vehicles to North Korea last year, customs data indicate, compared to more than 3,200 in the year the ban began.
However, Chinese exports of automotive-related products to North Korea have increased dramatically compared to pre-pandemic levels. New tire shipments for passenger cars reached nearly 193,000 units in 2025, rising 88% from pre-COVID averages, while rear-view mirror exports nearly quadrupled. Lubricating oil and grease shipments increased more than 150%.
Vehicles continue entering North Korea through unofficial channels along the 1,400-kilometer Chinese border, multiple sources told Reuters. This occurs despite a Chinese smuggling crackdown in recent months, according to two individuals.
Lu Ming, a used-car dealer in China’s northeastern Jilin province, explained that vehicles bound for North Korea change ownership multiple times before border crossing, with a small group of experienced smugglers managing final delivery. Lu said some cars he has sold have reached North Korea but he doesn’t trade directly with importers. Once a car leaves his lot, he said, he cannot control its resale or final user.
Video and photo content posted on social media between late 2024 and early 2026 by nearly a dozen Pyongyang residents and visitors, verified by Reuters, show foreign-brand vehicles at service centers and on city streets. The cars include models from Chinese manufacturers Changan, Chery and Geely, plus European brands like BMW and Audi.
“In the past, you could point to a particular brand” as most popular in North Korea, said Joung Eun-lee, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a South Korean government-funded think tank. “But recently, the variety has become so wide that it is difficult to identify a single dominant one.”
Prices range from $5,000 to $30,000 for various new and used, gasoline and electric models, Joung said, citing border region trader information. She shared photographs with Reuters taken from the Chinese side last year, showing more than 30 vehicles parked along the North Korean border in Hyesan city, one of several entry points.
Audi and BMW told Reuters they conduct no business activities in North Korea and their importers and dealers are contractually required to comply with sanctions. Both German manufacturers said they were unaware of their vehicles operating in Pyongyang. Audi added it has no control over used cars in private ownership.
Changan, Chery and Geely did not respond to requests for comment about their vehicles’ presence in North Korea and their sanctions compliance measures.
On Pyongyang’s increasingly crowded streets, the cumulative impact of all imported cars is unmistakable.
“It’s crazy how dense traffic has become,” said the foreign businessman. “Yellow plates are everywhere.”
