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Infiltrating North Korea Part 5: The Sexy Traffic Girls of Pyongyang
Infiltrating North Korea is a two-week series exploring the world's most reclusive nation and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series, be sure to click here.
The most pleasant surprise in all of North Korea is undoubtedly the city's phenomenal Traffic Girls.
Dolled up in crisp, blue and white uniforms that are rumored to have been designed by Kim Jong Il himself, the immaculately coifed women work the middle of intersections throughout Pyongyang. Every Traffic Girl is beautiful, young, shapely, and sexy in a uniform-wearing sort of way. On sunny days, they even don Matrix style sunglasses that add an even deeper layer of suggestive innuendo.
Since there are no streetlights in Pyongyang, the Traffic Girls are the only way to maintain order on the roadways, and man do they! Armed with just a whistle and baton, the girls are a one-person show beautifully orchestrating the flow of traffic with patented, choreographed moves that are crisp, robotic, and out of this world.
In any other country they'd cause accidents as rubbernecking perverts speed by gawking at them; but not in North Korea where there are few automobiles on the street and even less opportunity to be reckless and deviant.
Gallery: North Korea: The Traffic Girls of Pyongyang
Yesterday: The Architecture of Pyongyang
Tomorrow: Art and Culture, Pyongyang Style
Filed under: Arts and Culture, North Korea, Transportation, Infiltrating North Korea
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
weya Feb 15th 2008 7:48AM
hi!
all is my friend.
kamal Sep 19th 2008 5:15PM
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w511 Oct 13th 2008 1:31PM
Do these Traffic Girls have any Law Enforcement powers [power to arrest or issue summonses]?
Are they armed with any weapons such as a truncheon or pistol?
narc May 24th 2009 6:11PM
@neil_metblogs: What I can see from this and other videos - the waving in front of the mouth is a signal for those she caught filming. In this video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YVIBawHaQY, a girl confronts (politely of course, with military salute), a tourist who she waved to constantly the moment she switched shift with her partner.
KenC Dec 10th 2007 12:43PM
Wow, they have cars in North Korea?!?
And, did you notice those traffic girls only go counterclockwise. I wonder what that means?
neil_metblogs Dec 10th 2007 8:44PM
Looks like a fun job.
What do those signals mean? Whistle, point with stick, wave hand in front of mouth, turn, turn, turn, make stop signal with hand.
Gag Halfrunt Dec 15th 2007 7:31PM
Did your tour group go on an organised visit to see a traffic policewoman in action? The level of traffic on the roads seems heavy by Pyongyang standards, so I'm wondering if it was staged for your benefit. At least one car (the red Dacia) comes around twice.
Neil Dec 16th 2007 3:32AM
Gag, interesting thought but this was one of the few unplanned stops we had. We stopped to look at the nearby ice rink and i walked a few steps away to film the traffic girl. And yes, i happened to hit this intersection at the busiest time -- it was the most cars I saw at any one time in North Korea.
ubergenericman Dec 17th 2007 10:38PM
12-10-2007 @ 12:43PM
KenC said...
Wow, they have cars in North Korea?!?
And, did you notice those traffic girls only go counterclockwise. I wonder what that means?
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Reminds me of Zoolander