North Korea’s Pyeonghwa cars crowd the streets of Pyongyang

SEOUL, Dec. 10 (UPI) — A North Korean car manufacturer created jointly by North and South is still in business as North Korea’s elite is reportedly enjoying an increasingly richer lifestyle than previous generations.

North Korean carmaker Pyeonghwa Motors was formed in 2000 through a joint venture with South Korea’s Unification Church, South Korean outlet Oh My News reported on Thursday.

North Korea eventually acquired all shares of the car company but made headlines in 2010 when it transferred the Unification Church’s share of profits to South Korea – an unprecedented transaction at the time.

The two most popular models, Whistle and Cuckoo, were frequently sighted in Pyongyang, according to an Oh My News reporter who attended a Pyongyang exhibition in May, then traveled in the Whistle, a regular four-door sedan, from Pyongyang to Wonsan, a trip of 373 miles.

The price of the Cuckoo, a sports utility vehicle, was $9,100, while another SUV, the Ssangma, cost $10,000, according to the report.

But the vast majority of North Koreans are impoverished, and it is highly unlikely the cars are purchased by anyone outside North Korea’s class of elites.

South Korean television network SBS reported Thursday the regime’s efforts to keep its top 1 percent happy are ongoing, and that Pyongyang recently opened an upscale supermarket and department store in an area dedicated to North Korea’s scientists, where, according to KCNA, those loyal to the regime live for free.

Stores like the one that opened in Pyongyang are not for ordinary people, however.

Kim Yong-hun, chief editor of South Korean outlet Daily NK, said powdered milk in such stores cost $50, an unthinkable purchase for most North Koreans who on average earn $1 per month.

Cho Dong-ho, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said socioeconomic equality is becoming a serious problem in North Korea, “more critical than in South Korea.”