Trump's 'rocket man' tweet claims Korea sanctions biting but experts unsure
Washington: New international sanctions against North Korea have led to a spike in petrol prices, but there is little evidence for US claims that the country is being "economically strangled" or that motorists are panic-buying petrol.
On Sunday, Donald Trump combined a taunt aimed at the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, with the assertion that the country's citizens were queuing for petrol before the latest round of sanctions hits supplies.
Referring to a telephone conversation earlier in the day with the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, Trump tweeted: "I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!"
A week after the United Nations security council voted to reduce gasoline exports and cap crude oil supplies to North Korea in response to its sixth nuclear test, Washington insisted the regime was starting to "feel the pinch".
The comments came from the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, who said recent sanctions had caused the country to be "cut off from the world".
But experts have challenged claims that the oil sanctions will exert sufficient pressure on the North Korean economy to convince the regime to change course.
And while some Chinese traders along the border with North Korea complained that reduced access to fuel and the sanctions had hit cross-border trade, Trump's vision of long queues at petrol stations seems far-fetched in a country where car ownership is very low and largely confined to military and government officials.
NK News, citing multiple sources in the country, reported that there were no long queues for petrol in Pyongyang, where most traffic is concentrated.
Exact numbers are hard to come by, but there are an estimated 250,000-300,000 cars in North Korea, compared with well over 20 million in South Korea, whose population is about double that of is neighbour.
Most passenger cars in the North are second-hand imports from China, but are still way beyond the financial reach of most people.
Cars have to be registered with a government enterprise or the military, and women are reportedly forbidden to drive in all but exceptional circumstances.