DPRK

Roads and Metro

In Pyongyang young women are recruited as traffic police and stand in the middle of road junctions with a whistle and baton. Given traffic volumes it isn't such a daunting task. The roads and pavements are incredibly clean and clear of rubbish or weeds.

Trolley buses dominate the roads and at rush hour are crammed full of passengers. There is an eclectic collection of vehicles on the streets including battered Mercs and Volvos, a small number of cars produced domestically in a JV with Fiat and fleets of new white Passat saloons for use of the apparatchiks. There are also many old Soviet trucks.

The Pyongyang Metro doubles as a nuclear bomb shelter and hence the deep tunnels. The cheerful faces of the two Kims are in each carriage and presumably this deters the graffiti.