To be sure, the economy seems to have bottomed out. In the gray, boxy buildings that dominate the city's streets, lights are rarely turned on during the day, and often not at night. Many huge, high-rise apartment complexes stand mostly empty, says one Pyongyang resident, because there' s no power to run the elevators. There are few vehicles on the roads, no trucks delivering food or goods to stores. Many of the few shops that exist appear closed.
Feet are the main mode of transport.
Pyongyang has a lavish, Soviet-style subway system, as well as streetcars and buses, but they run infrequently and often not at all. Medicine is primitive. At Kim Il Sung University Hospital, named after the county's demigod founder and considered the country's best medical facility, nurses use old beer bottles to dispense intravenous fluids, due to a shortage of proper bottles. A rancid bathroom appears to lack running water. Dr. Vollertsen, the German physician, says most of the medical equipment doesn't work, for lack of power or spare parts.