다다익선

The more, the better.

Pyongyang, March 19th, 1950

There were only three tram systems in the Korean peninsula. Two were in the south - in Seoul and Busan, and doubtlessly neglected by the US occupation forces as much of the transportation infrastructure in the south had been. The Pyongyang tram system had been built by the Japanese occupiers in the 1920s, replacing a horse-drawn tramway - and by 1950, with the rapid expansion of the North Korean economy and the coming of self-sufficiency politics, the need for additional capacity on the system was evident.

So it was that two additional lines began construction with the ceremony of March 19th, 1950. No Nam-hui was an acute fan of the tram system, regarding it as the "preeminent form of transportation for the revolutionary worker." Groundbreaking of the Tosong-Munsu line, connecting the southern bank of the Taedong river, especially with connections to the Dongpyeong arsenal and other new industries, was filmed by the Central Korean Film Company as part of the initiative to show the fruits of Korean labour in the north. This part of the transportation revolution in Korea was sublte at first, yet it was hoped that the increased interconnectedness of the capital would spread throughout the land in short order.