North Korea is still living in the era of Covid-19 restrictions. But that is about to change. Pyongyang is now allowing its nationals abroad to return to the country which is further easing the strict lockdown imposed since 2020 to fight the coronavirus pandemic, state media reported on Sunday.
According to the official KCNA news agency, the state’s Epidemic Emergency Prevention Center announced that “overseas citizens have been allowed to return home”. “Returning individuals will be placed under appropriate medical observation in quarantine centers for a week,” the agency said, adding that the decision was made due to “the improved state of the pandemic at the level global “.
Senior foreign officials in Pyongyang in July
North Korea closed its borders in early 2020 to fight the pandemic, but there are growing signs that the country is moving towards reopening. Chinese and Russian dignitaries, who attended a military parade in Pyongyang last month, were the first senior foreign officials to visit the country in several years.
Last week, a delegation of North Korean athletes was also allowed to take part in a taekwondo competition in Kazakhstan, and national airline Air Koryo made its first international commercial flight in three years. When the plane arrived at Beijing airport on Tuesday morning, AFP journalists saw only two North Koreans come out, recognizable by the effigy of former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il they wore as a badge.
China approves resumption of commercial flights
Another Air Koryo flight departed from Beijing shortly after the same day bound for Pyongyang, according to an airline tracking site. Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency published photos of a number of passengers at the baggage check-in counter on the flight.
When questioned, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had approved the resumption of commercial air travel between Beijing and Pyongyang. “During the summer and autumn flight season (…) the Chinese side approved Air Koryo’s passenger flight plans for the Pyongyang-Beijing and Beijing-Pyongyang routes,” the carrier announced on Monday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.