North Korea Tyre Rules 2026: No Self-Drive, 1.6 mm

North Korea is the one country on this site where the honest tyre answer starts somewhere else: you will not be choosing the tyres, because you will not be driving. Travel is arranged through state-approved tours, and vehicles come with a driver and a guide.

With that established: no seasonal tyre mandate is published, and the tread figure used here is the international benchmark of 1.6 mm in the main grooves, from Council Directive 89/459/EEC. North Korea does not publish its road traffic code internationally, so there is no national article to quote against it.

Tyre Law Summary for North Korea

The winter is real, whatever the rules say

The absence of a mandate is not evidence of a mild climate. Ryanggang and Chagang provinces in the north sit high and continental, hold snow for months, and record temperatures far below freezing through the winter. The area around Paektu is among the coldest inhabited parts of East Asia.

Anyone travelling in the north between December and March should expect genuinely cold conditions, packed snow on secondary roads and limited clearance away from the main routes — as a passenger rather than as a driver.

What the road network looks like

Two things define driving conditions here, and neither is tyre-related:

• Very low traffic volume. The Pyongyang–Kaesong Reunification Highway and the Pyongyang–Wonsan route are wide multi-lane roads that are often almost empty. Surface quality varies considerably along their length.
• A thin secondary network. Beyond the main arteries, unsealed roads are common, and winter maintenance concentrates on the arteries rather than on rural links.

Traffic keeps to the right.

The borders

Three countries adjoin North Korea:

• China: the long northern border along the Yalu and Tumen rivers. This is the practical overland route, through crossings such as Sinuiju opposite Dandong.
• Russia: a short stretch in the far northeast along the Tumen. The long-standing link there has been a rail bridge rather than a road crossing.
• South Korea: across the Demilitarized Zone, which is not an ordinary border crossing.

Taiwan and Mongolia are sometimes listed as regional neighbours; neither shares a border with North Korea, and neither can be reached from it overland.

For what is known about speed limits, licences and vehicle rules, see the Driving in North Korea guide.