Pyongyang: A North Korean magazine used an image of what appears to be Toyota's Camry model while promoting a local trading company's car assembly service, a copy of the publication showed Tuesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, a copy of the first 2026 issue of Foreign Trade, a quarterly state-run North Korean magazine, carried a story promoting a Pyongyang-based trading company, Kangguk Trading Corp.
The article introduced the firm's business interests as ranging from mining and marine transport to financial service, fishing, IT development, vehicle assembling, and fuel sale, among others. It included promotional images, one of which was a white sedan resembling a Camry. The magazine did not elaborate on the firm's car assembly business, but North Korea's automobile industry is known to be almost exclusively restricted to military vehicles, without the capability to produce vehicles for private use.
The magazine highlighted the company's efforts to diversify its trade activities, mentioning its offices, branches, and joint ventures in Russia, China, and several other countries. It emphasized the firm's focus on processing, technical, and service trades. "Given the environment of foreign markets changing constantly, the corporation is doing its best to open up new markets and strengthen economic exchanges and technical cooperation with foreign businesses," the magazine stated, describing the firm's efforts to expand overseas.
The quarterly did not provide further details, but such overseas business expansion could constitute a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against North Korea, which prohibit member countries from engaging in joint businesses with the country.