Asian Talks

North Korea News of the Day: A slice of good news from North Korea today. And by “good” we mean better than hearing about human rights violations, and by “North Korea” we mean the place where this story came from.

Supreme leader Kim Jong Un reversed a 20-year-old rule — implemented by Papa Bear himself — banning women from riding bicycles. The law was originally mandated after Oh Hye Young, the daughter of National Defence Commission vice-chair Oh Geuk Ryeol, was killed by an automobile while riding a bicycle in the 1990s. The law was never strictly enforced outside Pyongyang, but it was still on the books, which means the old regime wasn’t going to budge.

Ultimately, this change probably doesn’t represent even a microscopic shift in ruling ideology, but at least Mr. Jong Un woke up on the right side of the bed one day, realized it was 2012 — or whatever year their calendar claims it is — and concluded that women can ride bicycles responsibly. Hooray for progress!