Pyongyang to ditch traffic girls? Progress comes to North Korea

Traffic-directing hotties have always been a staple of the North Korean capital. Chosen for their looks rather than their skills in moving cars smoothly along Pyongyang‘s rather empty streets, the traffic girls have become an attractive attraction in themselves … and it looks like they are set to be retired.

According to a post on the site Pyongynag Traffic Girls, there are reports that the seemingly ubiquitous umbrellas in Pyongyang intersections are going empty, with traffic lights bringing automation to what was once a manual task.

It truly is the end of an era …

Pyongyang Traffic Girls references a story from NK News (the link was not working) and copies the following from the original story:

According to a reliable source in Pyongyang, the famous traffic girls of North Korea‘s capital city have for the most part lost their jobs. Instead, modern low voltage LED based traffic lights have been installed throughout town to control traffic.

The girls were allegedly laid off earlier in the year, however some have been retained in case of long-term power shortages and some (perhaps now working as police due to the white uniform) are manually phasing lights in busy areas, such as near the Koryo hotel.


Currently, people who drive in the city are learning about the traffic lights. There have been some bugs in the systems, it seems, but progress is nonetheless sweeping through the streets of the most insulated nation in the world.