Donald Trump triggered massive discussions worldwide after tweeting that “long gas lines [are] firming in North Korea”, adding an explanatory note: “Too bad!”

His tweet raised a lot of questions and discussions, the main curiosity being: where does the president get this information from?

An important fact is that North Korea’s residents seem to know nothing about long gas lines. Even though there are reports of gas price increases, people have seen no such “long lines” at their gas stations.

“We are not aware of any long queues at the gas stations,” said one foreign resident of Pyongyang. “At least, I haven’t noticed anything. I asked a few Koreans and they haven’t seen anything either.”

Another residents said that he has not seen any obvious change since the last sanctions resolution passed. “Traffic on Friday was as heavy here as I’ve seen it. Normal on Saturday. Quieter on Sunday.” To put it differently, things are just as they used to be.

It is known that the US has been making efforts to punish Kim Jong Un’s defiance by cutting off oil. However, all the efforts failed as China and Russia threatened to use their veto powers to stop such a resolution.

Even though nobody has reported any gas lines so far, which is not a big surprise as North Korea is a country in which there is almost no private car ownership, the increase in prices is valid.

Gas prices started to rise in certain areas of the country soon after North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on September 3rd took place.

Source: washingtonpost.com