North Korea
STATUS: Independent nation
FORMERLY: Japanese territory (pre-1946)
CAPITAL: Pyongyang
WORLD LOCATION: East Asia
FIRST LICENSE PLATES IN USE: 1947
MOTOR VEHICLES CURRENTLY REGISTERED: Approx. 240,000
PLATES ARE: Officially issued. Private car plates are rare, and are embossed black on orange. Most vehicles have black on white State Owned Vehicle plates.
Prefix numbers are used as follows:
1 - Buses
2-XXX - Taxis (with three digit serial numbers)
2-XXXX-XXXXX - State owned cars - (with four or five digit serial numbers)
3 - Trucks
4 - Unknown / Unused
5 - Ambulance or Fire Department
6 - Municipal Vehicles, Police
7 - Motorcycles
Tractor plates have no number prefix. The number 4 prefix is not used.
Motorcycle plates have only recently been issued, mainly in the black on orange private series. A recent find (shown below), shows a 1980's vintage motorcycle plate in black on yellow. Although the paint has been redone by the Korean user, I can't imagine that the color was changed from another combination.
Diplomatic Vehicles have white on blue plates (see below), with an ideogram prefix denoting "diplomat", followed by an Embassy code number, and a serial number.
Non-Diplomatic Embassy Vehicle plates are now being issued, but colors and design are unknown.
Foreigner issue plates consist of plates almost identical to the Diplomatic series, but with a serial number of 700 and higher.
Heavy duty armed forces vehicles generally have a serial number painted directly on the vehicle.
Armed Forces personnel vehicles, cars, and trucks have black plates, with white numbers with a provincial prefix ideogram, followed by from six to eight characters. Some black on white plates in this series are also known.
Army Test plates are black on white, with a red encircled star in the center, and diagonal red bars. The Korean words for ARMY and TEST are in the lower right corner.
Foreign Delgation issues are black on white, with a red star prefix, and red border. A former series is known, with a blue border and serial number in blue, with red triangles on either end of the plate, pointing in toward the number.
Trolleys and Trolleybuses have very large black on white plates with a three digit simple serial number.
SINGLE PLATES OR PAIRS: Pairs
ISO:KP
CARS DRIVE ON: Right (since 1946)
Header
photo courtesy of J.J. Potylo-Glanzmann.
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North Korean Diplomatic issues, from the JJPotylo-Glanzmann collection. Note the two different shades of blue. The "07" prefix plate is from the Hungarain embassy, and the "19" prefix is from the Indonesian embassy, from the Ambassador's car. |
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North Korean State Owned Vehicle issue, usually found on buses, or taxis, as privately owned modes of transportation are almost unheard of. The double prefix ideograms indicate this plate came from Pyongyang, the capital. The "3" leading number on this plate indicates usage on a truck. Plate is from the Potylo-Glanzmann collection. |
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North Korean Motorcycle - probably from the mid-1980's. Colors are black on yellow, all embossed steel or a metal alloy. The code for motorcycles is number "7", the plate number in this case is "16". This is one of two known North Korean motorcycle plates - the other is number "17". From the Drew Steitz collection (plate model, Willa Enwistle, age 3) |
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