North Korea: where bicycle licence plates are non-negotiable
If the British transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is looking for a “model” for his bicycle registration plates proposal he could turn to one of the world’s most illiberal countries: North Korea.
After decades of being frowned upon as a primitive means of transport for citizens of a modern, socialist paradise, cycling gained official acceptance in the secretive state in 1992 – although it is officially banned for women.
They are now an expensive but increasingly popular mode of transport for many in the country, where private car ownership, although on the rise, is still rare.
The change of heart was partly attributed to the famine and economic crisis of the 1990s, which made other modes of transport too expensive, while power cuts made rail services unreliable, the US-based website NK News said in a 2017 article.
These days, Pyongyang is considered bike-friendly, largely because there are so few cars on the capital’s wide streets. Bicycle lanes and parking areas are to be found all over the city, and bikes are indispensable in rural areas with next to no other means of getting around.
That said, the authorities continue to have a love-hate relationship with the bicycle.
Would-be owners are required to pass a road safety test at their local police station, and every bicycle requires a licence plate – a metal tag showing where it was registered, along with a registration number, that is displayed at the front.
As in other countries, bicycles are considered a status symbol in North Korea.
Japanese bikes are reportedly the most sought after, followed by locally made models that are said to be manufactured by prison labourers. Chinese bikes are the least coveted, according to Beijing-based Koyro Tours, which has organised cycling
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