On the far eastern stretches of the Sino-Korean border, high speed rail travel is booming, with the Changchun to Hunchun line seeing over 1 million passengers in its first month of operation. That line links Changchun with Hunchun, on the Sino-Russo-Korean border, passing through Yanji and Tumen in the Yanbian Autonomous Korean Prefecture. Tumen, incidentally, hasn't even had traffic lights for a decade; Hunchun is only a city of 200,000 - a quiet hamlet by Chinese standards. At less than 200 RMB for the longest stretch, ticket prices are low enough that bus companies have already been struggling to attract customers.

Sorry, did I hear you say you wanted a DPRK-made car? You did, but you don't know what model to choose? Or even what models exist? Well, you are in luck, because we have digitized and compiled all the materials available as of this autumn, 2015.

Visitors to Pyongyang are often struck by how the only billboards not advertising a combination of the fatherland/party/military/leadership are advertisements for Pyonghwa Motors. Since last year, visitors have also been able to stop by an attractive showroom that has been set up on Gwangbok Street in Pyongyang. It is replete with test-driveable models on display, a spare-parts store and even a cafe. 

USKI at SAIS has just published and worthwhile report by Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, titled Growth and Geography of Markets in North Korea New Evidence from Satellite Imagery. Silberstein's analysis is helpful in a few ways. It is clear - even though he admits that from above one cannot tell what's happening under the roofs - that markets have generally grown and despite ambivalent policies from above, permanent closures and removals of markets does not seem to have taken place.

CE recently took a group of North Koreans to Malaysia for a study trip. Malaysia is one of a handful of countries with reciprocal visa-free arrangements with the DPRK.