This text is from the sixth version (July–September 2026) of 38 North’s quarterly product, North Korea Briefing, that displays key inside developments in North Korea. For the total version, click on right here.
North Korea’s authorization of personal automobile possession and its promotion of state-run lotteries level to new methods of serving and drawing income from customers. The car legislation, amended in 2025 and obtained by the writer within the third quarter of 2026, units situations for getting, promoting, and driving automobiles, whereas current lottery promotions present the state utilizing video games of likelihood and digital funds. Each developments broaden shopper choices inside programs the state can regulate and monitor.
The Guidelines Behind Pyongyang’s Car Increase
Within the shadow of the Juche Tower in Pyongyang stands a three-floor glass-and-steel parking construction outdoors the Taedonggang Beer Restaurant. That might have been misplaced in North Korea till just lately, however it’s a signal of rising non-public automobile possession and a large rich class, no less than in Pyongyang.
Non-public possession of automobiles was banned till October 2024, when a brand new legislation modified that. The legislation was amended in January 2025 and the writer obtained a duplicate of that model in July 2026. The legislation units the situations underneath which residents can purchase, personal, function, and promote automobiles.[1] There’s a restrict of 1 automobile per family, house owners should be no less than 18 years previous, they usually should have a driving license. Lively-duty army personnel can’t personal automobiles. Driving licenses will be obtained by means of a 40-day coaching course held outdoors working hours or on Sundays or holidays.
Potential consumers have to submit an utility to the state, their identification card, and driving license. Vehicles should be purchased by means of and offered again to licensed dealerships. That seems to rule out non-public gross sales (individual to individual), apparently serving to the state keep management of the market, uphold official costs, and accumulate taxes. The legislation offers for pre-orders and digital funds, ostensibly to make purchases extra handy. This seemingly additionally permits nearer oversight of transactions.
A minimum of two automobile dealerships are a part of the Hwasong growth that has remodeled northeastern Pyongyang. In April 2025, Kim Jong Un visited one, the Misan Car Know-how Service Middle, whereas touring the fourth-stage Hwasong District.
The automobiles accessible are typically imported from China and embrace a number of Chinese language manufacturers together with some Japanese and Western ones, however no South Korean fashions. The state units costs, that are premium. On the prime finish, a 2020 Lexus LX570 SUV value $250,000 and a Mercedes Benz S450L value $190,000, in response to NK Information, citing images taken in Pyongyang in early 2026. The Lexus worth is double the producer’s retail worth and the Mercedes at a 30 p.c premium, in response to the report. On the decrease finish, a Chinese language account on X reported automobiles can be found for round $15,000.[2]
Even with a automobile, residents should not allowed unrestricted journey. For “long-distance journey,” drivers want to use to a safety company for approval, relying on the area. The legislation doesn’t specify which areas want approval, nevertheless it bars automobiles registered outdoors Pyongyang from being pushed within the capital.
The legislation additionally takes into consideration the results of extra automobiles on on a regular basis life. It calls on “related design establishments, city administration establishments, and building establishments” to construct parking tons, service stations, and fuel stations in city plans. Moreover, it states that automobiles should be parked in tons, garages, or designated locations with out obstructing visitors or pedestrians, which is a potential cause for the brand new parking construction outdoors the Taedonggang Beer Restaurant.
Context and Implications
Whereas some amenities in North Korea already comprise automobile parking areas, they continue to be unusual. Related constructions might thus turn into extra widespread. International vacationers additionally report extra automobiles on the streets of Pyongyang, many with the yellow license plates that denote non-public possession.
The brand new possession guidelines create a authorized marketplace for non-public automobiles whereas protecting gross sales, costs, journey, and associated infrastructure underneath state supervision. The parking construction and reported enhance in automobiles counsel that the modifications have gotten seen in Pyongyang, though the accessible observations don’t set up how widespread non-public possession is past the capital.
Extra Methods To Lose Cash
State lotteries and different video games of likelihood look like a brand new manner the state is persuading individuals to half with their hard-earned money. In current months, Chinese language residents in Pyongyang and Rason have posted particulars of two video games on social media.
The primary was a World Cup lottery, though its connection to the match past the ticket sale dates is unclear.[3] Profitable numbers have been drawn on July 20, three days after the World Cup ended.
The lottery provided 100,000 tickets at 50,000 gained every (round US$0.72), with the highest prize at 500 million gained (US$7,245). Complete prize cash was 3.25 billion gained (US$47,101), leaving the state sports activities lottery administration (체육추첨관리소) a 1.75 billion gained (US$25,362) minimize, ought to all tickets have been offered. A poster at a Pyongyang avenue stand famous that prizes could be paid out through an digital pockets, an extra signal of the state’s push to digitize funds.
A second video confirmed a customer taking part in a scratch card sport in Rason. Six tickets provided the highest prize: a 65-inch LCD TV. Different prizes included a heater, electrical fan, Bluetooth watch, and a handheld fan.[4]
Context and Implications
Eager readers of North Korean legislation will know that Article 296 of the legal code outlaws playing. “In instances the place an individual gambles by staking belongings value roughly 30,000 gained or extra per yr, or gambles for about 30 hours or extra or on 15 or extra events per yr, the individual shall be sentenced to correctional labor for a time period of as much as 5 years.”
Regardless of the legislation, playing has been permitted in worldwide motels to overseas nationals. It’s unclear if the legislation applies to state-run lotteries, both as a result of they don’t seem to be categorized as playing or as a result of they’re run by the state.
The lottery promotions counsel that the state is prepared to supply regulated video games of likelihood whereas criminalizing non-public playing. Cost by means of an digital pockets would additionally carry lottery transactions into the increasing digital cost system. The accessible examples don’t present how broadly such video games are provided or whether or not all marketed tickets have been offered.
These new lotteries are one other manner the state is in search of to take in idle money out there because it tightens its grip on the economic system.
