Country driving guide · 2026
Everything UK and EU drivers need before crossing the border into North Korea: 6 legal requirements + 10 other things worth knowing.
Required
Recommended
Good to know
Tick before you go
6 legal must-haves. Print it, tick them off, throw it in the glovebox.
Tourist visa via approved tour operator only
Independent entry is not permitted; you must travel on a guided group tour booked through a state-approved operator (e.g. KITC, Koryo Tours) with a visa arranged in Beijing. Journalists and South Korean passport holders are refused.
Self-drive by foreigners is effectively banned
Foreign tourists are not permitted to rent or drive private vehicles; all transport is provided by state-licensed drivers and government minders accompany you at all times. An IDP has no practical use.
Speed limits roughly 100 / 70 / 60 km/h
Motorway (e.g. Pyongyang-Wonsan) limit is around 100 km/h, rural roads about 70 km/h, urban areas 60 km/h, though signage is sparse and limits are enforced unpredictably by traffic police.
Zero-tolerance alcohol limit (0.0 g/L)
Drink-driving is effectively prohibited with a 0.00 g/L BAC enforced; penalties for foreigners are severe and may involve detention. Do not drive after any alcohol.
No photography of military, checkpoints or officials
Photographing roads, bridges, soldiers, checkpoints or any official building can lead to arrest and long detention. Always defer to your guide before pointing a camera from a vehicle.
Bring euros, US dollars or Chinese yuan in cash
The local won (KPW) is closed to foreigners; all tourist transactions including fuel surcharges and tips use EUR, USD or CNY in cash. No Western bank cards, ATMs or mobile payments work.
Driving here is not realistic for UK/EU citizens: tourism is run only via state-approved guided tours, independent driving is prohibited, and the UK FCDO advises against all travel. Consular support is extremely limited.
Independent entry is not permitted; you must travel on a guided group tour booked through a state-approved operator (e.g. KITC, Koryo Tours) with a visa arranged in Beijing. Journalists and South Korean passport holders are refused.
Foreign tourists are not permitted to rent or drive private vehicles; all transport is provided by state-licensed drivers and government minders accompany you at all times. An IDP has no practical use.
North Korea is not a signatory to the 1968 Vienna Convention; in the rare diplomatic/NGO cases where foreigners drive, a 1949 Geneva IDP plus a DPRK-issued local permit is used. UK drivers obtain the 1949 IDP from the Post Office.
Vehicles drive on the right-hand side of the road. Traffic volumes outside Pyongyang are extremely low and rural roads are often unpaved.
Motorway (e.g. Pyongyang-Wonsan) limit is around 100 km/h, rural roads about 70 km/h, urban areas 60 km/h, though signage is sparse and limits are enforced unpredictably by traffic police.
Drink-driving is effectively prohibited with a 0.00 g/L BAC enforced; penalties for foreigners are severe and may involve detention. Do not drive after any alcohol.
Photographing roads, bridges, soldiers, checkpoints or any official building can lead to arrest and long detention. Always defer to your guide before pointing a camera from a vehicle.
Emergency services exist but are not set up to help foreign tourists directly; in any incident contact your tour guide first, who will route assistance via the British Embassy in Pyongyang.
There is no e-vignette, toll booths or motorway charging system for foreigners; transport costs are bundled into the tour package paid in advance in EUR, USD or CNY.
There are no LEZ schemes, emissions stickers or environmental zone registrations in Pyongyang or other cities.
There is no publicly available list of mandatory in-car equipment (hi-vis, triangle, etc.) applicable to foreigners, as visitors do not drive. State-supplied tour vehicles handle their own compliance.
The local won (KPW) is closed to foreigners; all tourist transactions including fuel surcharges and tips use EUR, USD or CNY in cash. No Western bank cards, ATMs or mobile payments work.
Petrol and diesel are rationed; foreigners do not buy fuel directly, but tour-vehicle fuel costs are roughly EUR 1.50-2.50 per litre equivalent when available. Outside Pyongyang, stations are extremely rare.
Customs require full declaration of foreign currency, phones, laptops, GPS units and printed material on entry; undeclared items or any South Korean / religious / political content can be confiscated and trigger detention.
Winter (Dec-Mar) brings heavy snow and ice on mountain roads with no winter-tyre regime publicised to foreigners; summer monsoon floods (Jul-Aug) regularly wash out rural roads and bridges.
We'll build the itinerary, estimate fuel + tolls, and show EV chargers along the route, and this checklist appears automatically on every trip that crosses into North Korea.
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Don't get caught out
Motorway (e.g. Pyongyang-Wonsan) limit is around 100 km/h, rural roads about 70 km/h, urban areas 60 km/h, though signage is sparse and limits are enforced unpredictably by traffic police.
Drink-driving is effectively prohibited with a 0.00 g/L BAC enforced; penalties for foreigners are severe and may involve detention. Do not drive after any alcohol.
Photographing roads, bridges, soldiers, checkpoints or any official building can lead to arrest and long detention. Always defer to your guide before pointing a camera from a vehicle.