Beijing said on Monday that cross-border freight train operations between China and North Korea had resumed, following a five-month halt imposed to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Reports coming out of South Korea that China and North Korea had resolved to restore cross-border freight train travel that had been halted in April owing to the epidemic were corroborated by the Chinese foreign ministry.
According to Wang Wenbin, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, all parties will keep improving cooperation to ensure the secure and reliable operation of freight transit.
After South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that a freight train from Dandong had crossed a bridge to the North Korean city of Sinuiju, the ministry made its statement. The North’s liaison office in South Korea, the Unification Ministry, had also announced the start of rail service.
Since April 29, when China ceased services with North Korea after consulting because to COVID-19 infections in its border city of Dandong, train crossings have been put on pause. The first COVID epidemic was announced by North Korea shortly after, which it currently claims has been contained.
The suspension in April occurred less than four months after North Korea relaxed the border lockdowns put in place to combat the coronavirus at the beginning of 2020. An old airfield that was once close to the Chinese border was converted by North Korea into a sizable quarantine facility, where inbound items have been seen waiting for months in commercial satellite photography.
International assistance organisations attribute North Korea’s escalating economic problems and threats to millions of people’s access to food on the border controls.
The COVID-19 outbreak was declared over by leader Kim Jong Un last month, and he also ordered the removal of the strictest anti-epidemic measures put in place in May. However, he added that North Korea must continue to maintain a “steel-strong anti-epidemic barrier.”
Due to apparent lack of resources for broad testing, North Korea has never acknowledged the exact number of COVID cases, and analysts have questioned its figures.
