Bicycle use now encouraged in North Korea
by Richardson ~ November 1st, 2005. Filed under: North Korea.Once upon a time the utter absence of bicycles in North Korea was noted in contrast to Chinese cities. People could be seen making the long walk from their apartments on the outskirts of Pyongyang into the city center for the days work, hauling what was needed on their backs or in hand carts. Why? Bikes were a bit too Chinese. Well, that has changed, and North Korea has opened its first bicycle factory:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is urging workers to produce more bicycles to cope with the lack of transport, improve people’s health and prevent pollution just days after the country’s first bike factory opened… China’s Xinhua news agency reported on Oct. 7 the North had started producing bicycles at the factory and could produce 300,000 “Peony Peak” bikes a year… KCNA said the factory was a joint venture with China… Chinese investors owned a 51 percent stake in the $650,000 Pyongyang factory. The North holds the rest. Hitherto, most bikes have been second-hand cast-offs from China and Japan.
