Juche-class EMU

Electric railcars had been used in Korea before the war by the Kŭmgangsan Electric Railway,^[3] and these were used by Korean State Railway until the line was destroyed during the Korean War,^[4] and no further electric railcars were used after that for many years. However, the opening of the P'yŏngyang Metro in 1973, along with worldwide attention on high-speed electric trainsets such as the Japanese Shinkansen put into service in 1964^[5] and the ER200 class introduced by the Soviet Railways in 1974,^[6] led the Railway Ministry to direct efforts towards the development of an electric multiple unit for North Korea, resulting in the unveiling of North Korea's first electric trainset, the Juche-class EMU, in 3 March 1978 at Kim Jong Thae as part of the 200 day campaign.^[7] Externally, the four-car set was similar in appearance to the 181 series trainsets used by the Japanese National Railways on the Kodama limited express of the day; internally, despite all of North Korea's electrification being 3000 V DC, the Juche-class EMU was built for two-system operation - possibly with a view to future operation in South Korea, where 25 kV AC electrification was used.^[8]

The trainset was named 'Juche' by Kim Il Sung, in appreciation of the labour the workers of Kim Chong-t'ae locomotive works put into manufacturing it.^[9]

A second 4-car set was built in 1982, as part of the celebrations for Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday.^[10]

One of the set was refurbished, repainted, and put into use on a daily commuter service for scientists between P'yŏngyang and Paesanjŏm on June 23rd, 1998,^[11] timetabled to take one hour to cover the 38 km (24 mi) distance each way.^[2]

The train was featured on a stamp issued on 30 April 1987.^[12]