Parking problems in North Korea too

From famine to nuclear war, North Koreans have had plenty to worry about over the years. Now, Pyongyang residents climbing the social ladder are facing a more prosaic problem: how to find a parking space.

North Korea's capital is seeing a sharp increase in the number of passenger cars, creating traffic jams for the first time and requiring new parking lots and electric vehicle charging infrastructure, according to three people who recently visited the country and satellite images reviewed by Reuters.

The fact that car culture is flourishing at all in one of the most heavily sanctioned and economically underdeveloped countries in the world is striking enough. Yet the signs are everywhere. At several hotels in Pyongyang, cars now fill parking spaces and spill into neighboring streets. Vehicles surround the Gold Lane bowling alley and Rakrang Market, a suburban grocery shopping center. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un addressed the trend in April, when he visited an auto repair shop and inspected various vehicles, the make and model of which were conspicuously hidden behind a silver sheet.

The growing auto trade is not directly reflected in official statistics because car exports to North Korea are banned by United Nations sanctions. But shipments of car-related goods from China, such as tires, mirrors and lubricants, are rising sharply, Chinese customs data show, revealing a growing demand for parts and other essential products as more North Koreans get behind the wheel.

The boom follows changes to North Korean law that formalized private car ownership in the past two years, allowing drivers to buy one vehicle per household through state-authorized dealers. Car ownership remains largely the privilege of the elite and entrepreneurial class known as the “lower class,” analysts say.

Reuters has sought to document how Pyongyang's newfound love of cars is transforming the city, and the role China - the world's largest car exporter - is playing in meeting that demand. The reporters reviewed dozens of satellite images and social media posts showing increased traffic and foreign-brand vehicles in North Korea, and spoke to more than a dozen sources, including businesspeople, diplomats and recent visitors to the country.

Peter Ward, a researcher at the Sejong Institute, a Seoul-based think tank, said North Korea's car policy is part of a broader effort to bring private economic activity under state control. Kim, he said, has allowed private car ownership because it channels spending through state-owned firms - cars are sold by state dealers, maintained by state repair shops, and fuel is purchased at state-owned gas stations.

"This encourages consumption, but also regulates what was previously a growing black market trade," he told Reuters.

North Koreans' enthusiasm for driving is changing more than just the appearance of Pyongyang's streets. Some analysts say it is also deepening their dependence on China, North Korea's main trading partner and the source of most of the vehicles that now fill its roads.

China's Foreign Ministry told Reuters that China and North Korea are friendly neighbors that maintain normal trade exchanges. The ministry did not directly comment on the flow of Chinese-made vehicles to North Korea, but said China requires companies to conduct trade "legally and in accordance with regulations."

North Korea's embassy in Beijing and its mission to the UN in New York did not respond to questions about the sudden increase in the number of vehicles in the country.

Yellow plates

License plates in Pyongyang have traditionally been blue or black, denoting state or military ownership. But yellow plates for private cars are becoming more common, two people who recently visited the country told Reuters.

Aram Pan, a Singaporean photographer who runs an Instagram account dedicated to North Korea, said he was stunned when he found himself stuck in a traffic jam in Pyongyang in October, during his 20th visit to the country.

“The main roads have become bottlenecks simply because there are too many cars now,” he said. “I definitely saw over a hundred cars with yellow plates.”

Most of the cars Pan saw were Chinese brands, he said.

A foreign businessman who regularly visits North Korea said parking in downtown Pyongyang had become difficult, with many spaces informally managed by guards who charge a fee. In October, state media showed Kim touring a new hospital that has an underground parking garage - a rarity in the capital, the businessman said.

Infrastructure for electric vehicles is limited, but charging stations for electric taxis have begun to appear, a businessman and a diplomat said.

It is unclear how many private cars are on North Korean roads. However, five-digit license plates have recently appeared. A video and a photo, posted on Chinese social media by foreigners in North Korea since March and verified by Reuters, show vehicles with yellow plates and registration numbers ranging from more than 10.000.

Jung Chang-hyun, a North Korea analyst and director of the Korea Institute for Peace and Economics in Seoul, told Reuters that the total number of private cars in North Korea could exceed 20.000 within the next year.

A market driven by China

United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs have banned the delivery of vehicles to the country since December 2017. Officially, China exported just two vehicles to North Korea last year, customs data show, compared with more than 3.200 the year the ban went into effect.

However, China's exports of auto-related goods to North Korea have risen sharply from pre-pandemic levels. Shipments of new passenger car tires rose to nearly 193.000 units in 2025, an 88 percent increase from the pre-COVID average, while exports of rearview mirrors nearly quadrupled. Shipments of oils and lubricants have increased by more than 150 percent.

Cars continue to enter North Korea through informal channels along the 1.400-kilometer border with China, sources told Reuters, despite Chinese authorities tightening their crackdown on smuggling in recent months, two people said.

Lu Ming, a used car dealer in China's northeastern Jilin province, said vehicles destined for North Korea change hands multiple times before crossing the border, with the final delivery handled by a small number of experienced smugglers. Lu said some of the cars he has sold have ended up in North Korea, but he does not deal directly with importers. Once a car from his lot is sold, he says he has no control over its further sale or the end user.

Footage and photos posted on social media by nearly a dozen Pyongyang residents and visitors between late 2024 and early 2026, and verified by Reuters, show foreign-branded vehicles at a service center and on city streets. The cars include models from Chinese manufacturers Changan, Chery and Geely, as well as European brands such as BMW and Audi.

“You used to be able to single out a particular brand” as the most popular in North Korea, said Jung Eun Lee, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, a South Korean government-funded organization. “But recently, the variety has become so great that it’s hard to single out one dominant one.”

Prices range from $5.000 to $30.000 for a variety of new and used, gasoline and electric models, Jung said, citing information from border traders. She provided Reuters with photos she took last year from the Chinese side of the border, showing more than 30 vehicles parked along the North Korean border in the city of Hyesan, one of several entry points.

Audi and BMW told Reuters they have no business activities in North Korea and that their importers and dealers are contractually obligated to comply with sanctions. Both German automakers said they were unaware that their vehicles were being used in Pyongyang. Audi added that it had no impact on privately owned used cars.

On the increasingly busy streets of Pyongyang, it is impossible not to notice the cumulative effect of all the imported cars.

"It's incredible how dense the traffic has become," said a foreign businessman. "Yellow plates are everywhere."

Translation: NB