The size of Pyongyang’s ‘Beijing’ taxi fleet has risen to as many as 800 vehicles, indicating a 900% increase since August, sources in the capital have told NK News.

The scale of the expansion has been observed through the numbers applied to the number plates of the new taxi fleet and confirmed by anecdotal observation of greatly increased taxi presence around the capital.

“All the taxis in Beijing colours have new plate numbers starting with 80 instead of 82. And it looks like they are 600-700, maybe even 800 already,” said one Pyongyang resident who has been monitoring the growth of the fleet.