Air Koryo runs Pyongyang-Beijing flights for first time in 3 years

The electronic display board at Beijing Capital International Airport shows North Korea's passenger flight JS151 having arrived in Beijing, China at 9:14 a.m., China time on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

An Air Koryo passenger flight from Pyongyang landed at Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday morning for the first time since January 2020 when the pandemic began.

Flight JS151 arrived at 9:14 a.m. there, 30 minutes ahead of its scheduled time of arrival. The electronic display board at Beijing Capital International Airport also showed another flight, JS152, was leaving for Pyongyang from Beijing at 1:05 p.m.

Although it is unclear whether passengers were aboard flight JS151, a vehicle from the North Korean Embassy in China was parked in the airport parking lot, according to Yonhap News Agency. High-ranking North Korean officials may have arrived in Beijing or North Korean Embassy officials were traveling to North Korea, it reported.

Air Koryo’s commercial flight was originally scheduled to arrive in China at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, only for it to be announced as canceled two hours after its scheduled arrival.

By Lee Jung-joo(lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com)