BEIJING/SEOUL – From famine to nuclear war, North Koreans have had plenty to worry about over the years. Now, the upwardly mobile residents of Pyongyang face a more prosaic concern: Finding a parking spot.
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.
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.
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