Over 300 North Korean Workers Return from Zhongdandong... "First Time Since COVID-19" (Comprehensive)

Resumption of Human Traffic in Full Swing as Bus Service to Sinuiju Restarts

About 300 North Korean personnel returned home for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Dandong, Liaoning Province, a trade hub between North Korea and China.

On the morning of the 16th, two buses departing from Sinuiju, North Korea, headed to Dandong, Liaoning Province, China, a border area between North Korea and China, via the Amnok River Railway Bridge (known as the China-North Korea Friendship Bridge in China). [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to a report by Yonhap News on the 28th citing multiple sources, 300 to 400 North Korean personnel crossed into Sinuiju from Dandong by bus that day.

This marks the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak in China and the closure of the North Korea-China border in January 2020 that North Korean personnel in China have returned to North Korea via road transportation. Previously, North Korea reportedly informed the personnel individually about their return plans, limited the luggage each person could carry to two pieces, and instructed them to undergo COVID-19 testing before returning. They are said to have self-isolated in Sinuiju for about a week before heading to Pyongyang.

When COVID-19 spread in China, North Korea closed its border in January 2020 and completely halted personnel exchanges between North Korea and China. After the COVID-19 situation in China eased, North Korea resumed freight train operations between Dandong and Sinuiju in January last year, and this year partially resumed freight truck operations between Hunchun, China and Wonsan-ri, North Korea, as well as between Nanping, China and the Musan trade zone in North Korea.

Since the beginning of this month, personnel exchanges between North Korea and China have started. On the 16th, dozens of North Korean athletes who participated in the Kazakhstan World Taekwondo Championships held in Kazakhstan crossed from Sinuiju to Dandong by bus. On the 22nd, 24th, and 26th, Air Koryo passenger flights transported North Korean residents to Pyongyang.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.