These women work as traffic police in North Korea - a job that appears to be reserved only for the most beautiful.

Believed to be hand-picked for their looks, Pyongyang's female traffic police are a familiar sight at intersections around the capital, where traffic volumes have noticeably increased in recent years.

To land the prestigious job of being a traffic officer in the country, it helps to be tall, beautiful and female.

Pyongyang's female traffic police are a familiar sight at intersections around the capital

As well as directing vehicles through Pyongyang, the traffic girls customarily give a crisp salute to passing military and government officials

Traffic girls are perhaps the most iconic symbols of the capital, Pyongyang, though they can also be found in other cities throughout North Korea

The women have developed something of a cult following, and even have a website dedicated to them

Traffic girls are perhaps the most iconic symbols of the capital though they can also be found in other cities throughout North Korea.

As well as directing vehicles through Pyongyang, the traffic girls customarily give a crisp salute to passing military and government officials.

The women have developed something of a cult following, and even have a website dedicated to them, which features a 'Pyongyang Traffic Girl Of The Month'.

To land the job of a traffic officer in the country, it helps to be tall, beautiful and female

The traffic girls fansite even features a 'Pyongyang Traffic Girl Of The Month'

In North Korea the women are obsessed over to the point of near absurdity

Images of the traffic women are widely used on stamps, flyers, posters and billboards as a form of propaganda

The website also has a game, and a forum where lovesick fans share messages and even poetry expressing their feelings about the traffic policewomen.

And it's not just online that Traffic girls are held in such esteem - in North Korea itself the women are obsessed over to the point of near absurdity.

Images of the women are widely used on stamps, flyers, posters and billboards as a form of propaganda - and traffic girl dolls have even been produced as toys for children.

Traffic volumes have noticeably increased in recent years in recent years although there are still fewer cars than in many other countries

In North Korea dolls have even gone on sale, aimed at children, which wear the uniform of the traffic policewomen

The job of traffic cop in North Korea appears to be reserved only for the most beautiful

The women who work as traffic officers are believed to be hand-picked for their looks

In 2013, a 22-year-old traffic girl named Ri Kyong Sim was awarded the country's highest civilian honour, the ‘Hero of the Republic’, for ‘helping traffic safety in the city’.

However, it was rumoured that she may actually have saved the life of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un during a failed assassination attempt.