ALBAWABA - As North Korean borders partially reopen for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began in 2020, an Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang landed in Beijing early on Tuesday.
According to flight data, an Air Koryo passenger flight flew from Pyongyang to Beijing on Tuesday, marking the first commercial trip in more than three years.
The flight, JS151, arrived at 9:17 a.m., shortly ahead of its scheduled time. It wasn't immediately clear who was aboard, but Western tour companies that operated in North Korea said it appeared to be a special flight that would on the return carry back North Koreans who had been trapped in China by the years of border closures, Reuters reported.
Last month, Chinese and Russian officials traveled to Pyongyang to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, the country's first known visit by foreign dignitaries since the war.
Air Koryo has also scheduled flights to Vladivostok on Friday, a diplomat told Reuters, in what would be its first flights to Russia since the pandemic.
"This flight isn’t a full resumption of the route yet, it is a special flight for Koreans only to take people home again after years being stuck overseas," said Simon Cockerell, general manager at Beijing-based Koryo Tours. "The same as the flights that seem likely to happen soon from Vladivostok".
According to a research by the Association of Asian Studies, Russia and China each housed over 20,000 North Koreans before to the outbreak of COVID. U.N. Security Council resolutions have mandated all countries to repatriate North Korean employees since the end of 2019, but many have remained in China, Russia, and other countries.
