It is not Amazon or FedEx, but in North Korea's fledgling market economy, a fleet of re-purposed old passenger buses is the next best thing for moving trade goods, from rice to textiles and livestock, between far-flung corners of the country.
Known as "servi-cha" — the name comes from "service" and "car" — the money-making buses have been transporting goods in recent years in what satellite imagery shows is an increasingly robust, if still primitive, network.
"In the past you had to deliver stuff in person. Now, buses are the way it is," said Kim Heung-kwang, a defector who heads the North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity organization in Seoul and maintains links with sources inside his secretive homeland.