New vehicle courses have opened in Pyongyang to keep up with the city’s rapidly growing population of drivers, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery, following the North Korean leader’s recent decision to overturn a ban on private car ownership.

Planet Labs imagery shows new driving test or education courses have been established and an old driving course newly refurbished. 

At least one site appeared to be for temporary use, suggesting transportation authorities have sought urgent solutions to the sudden rise in prospective drivers.

Leader Kim Jong Un reportedly opened up private car ownership in late 2024, with revised laws requiring individuals over 18 years old to take a paid 40-day training course at government-designated schools before applying for a license through the Ministry of Social Security.

A Pyongyang-based correspondent with Russian state news agency TASS estimated there were over 13,500 cars as of last month with new yellow license plates denoting private ownership in the capital city, likely based on the assumption that numbers on the plates were issued in sequential order.

The newest driving test or practice facility found by NK Pro is in southeast Pyongyang. Planet Labs imagery shows that lines were painted in the front parking lot in early June for driving and parking practice. 

The building was constructed from 2024 to 2025 and its parking lot was previously filled with uniformly parked cars and trucks, suggesting the facility may also sell cars.

A high-resolution Airbus image taken in February shows several similar T-shaped painted lines for parking practice in front of Sosan Stadium in west Pyongyang, along with over a dozen cars lined up or using the course. 

The site may have only been a temporary solution, however, as Planet Labs high-resolution images taken in June did not show such groups of vehicles.

Imagery from this year has revealed numerous lots filled with seemingly newly imported sedans and SUVs, while car smuggling operations over the Chinese border recently appeared to resume. Kim Jong Un has promoted a number of large state-run dealerships as well. 

There are also at least two large and permanent driving courses in the capital, both of which were built over 20 years ago.

One is located at the Mangyongdae School Children’s Palace in northwest Pyongyang. Google Earth imagery shows it was established between 2000 and 2006, and rebuilt in 2015.

State TV aired a program on the facility in 2020, where an official in charge recounted Kim Jong Un’s remarks during a visit in 2015 about how it was important for young people to earn their driver’s licenses there in order to prepare them for military service.

The other driving course is located on the Pothong River in the center of the city. Google Earth imagery shows it was built prior to 2000 but it may not have been active until 2020, when trees were cleared from the course. Street markings were painted in 2022 and it was repaved and repainted last November. 

NK Pro previously found that “children’s traffic education parks” were built in every small town in the country from around 2016 to 2020. These small facilities with mock intersections, traffic lights and classrooms allow children to drive battery-powered cars and practice using driving simulators. 

The parks went up years before Kim relaxed the rules on car ownership, at a time when almost no one in the country owned a car, suggesting it may have been part of long-term plans to eventually open the private car market.

It also came as streets across the country were filling up with more large industrial vehicles as the economy started to grow, raising the need to educate the public on road safety.

Edited by David Choi