North Korea permits individual car ownership for first time, Seoul says

North Korean people have reportedly been allowed to own their cars privately for the first time.

While the move marks a notable shift in policy, experts say it is unlikely to have a significant impact in a society where travel and relocation remain heavily restricted.

A Ministry of Unification official said Tuesday that Seoul is monitoring developments in the North following reports that Pyongyang began permitting private passenger car ownership earlier this year.

“We are closely watching the situation,” the official said.

Similar reports surfaced in 2017, though at the time, North Koreans were only permitted to register vehicles under the names of state-run enterprises or government agencies. This year’s change is said to allow registration under individuals’ names for the first time.

Experts have taken note of the development, but many argue that structural constraints in North Korean society will likely limit its effects.

Private cars are regarded as luxury goods in the North, making their owners natural targets of state surveillance, according to Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.

“There’s no real incentive to own a car in a society where freedom of movement is restricted and additional costs are required to operate a vehicle,” Lim said.

Some analysts believe the shift may be part of broader efforts to ease the regime’s growing fiscal strain, driven by large-scale provincial development projects and increased arms production to support Russia.

The country’s finances have also been hit by international sanctions, including restrictions on labor exports that once brought in large volumes of hard currency.

Skepticism remains over how realistic the policy is. Article 58 of North Korea’s Civil Law defines personal property as assets acquired through socialist distribution based on labor, additional state or social benefits, production from personal efforts such as gardening and other legally recognized means including purchases, inheritance or donation.

In practice, this means that only a small number of donju — the newly wealthy elite — may be able to legally justify the means to purchase a car. For most ordinary citizens, private ownership is likely out of reach.

Previously, the few private cars in North Korea were often owned by returnees from Japan, particularly from the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, who could prove the legal origins of their wealth.

BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]