North Koreans begin heading home after entry ban lifted

North Korea has lifted an entry ban imposed on its overseas nationals at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, state media reported Sunday.

In a photo taken by Kyodo News Agency, North Korean women push trolleys laden with baggage as they walk towards Terminal 2 of Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday, the first day that flights by the North's national carrier Air Koryo resumed between Pyongyang and Beijing. [KYODO/YONHAP]

North Korea has lifted an entry ban imposed on its overseas nationals at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, state media reported Sunday.

The announcement marks the official reopening of the North’s borders more than three years after the regime imposed one of the harshest entry restrictions related to the virus in the world.

According to the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North’s national emergency prevention headquarters moved to allow North Korean nationals abroad to return after the regime decided to “adjust anti-epidemic measures in response to the eased worldwide pandemic situation.”

North Koreans who return will be placed under “proper medical observation at quarantine wards for a week,” the KCNA said.

The reopening of the regime’s borders to its nationals follows the resumption of international flights between the North and China as well as Russia.

Flights operated by North Korean state carrier Air Koryo arrived in Beijing and Vladivostok from Pyongyang last week, presumably to bring home North Koreans residing in the two neighboring countries.

The first Air Koryo flight to Russia in over three and a half years landed at Vladivostok International Airport in Russia at around 11:14 a.m. Friday, according to Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

The flight appeared to signal a resumption of the only air connection between North Korea and Russia, which operated twice a week before being suspended in February 2020, after North Korea shut down its borders due to Covid-19 concerns.

Although North Korean Kim Jong-un declared the regime had successfully stemmed the domestic spread of Covid-19 in August last year, the North kept its borders shut to people, allowing only overland cargo transports from and to China and Russia last year.

The Air Koryo flight’s arrival was not listed on the Vladivostok International Airport website beforehand, despite earlier reports that a flight between the countries would resume Friday. The flight was slightly delayed due to heavy rains before landing in Vladivostok.

A plane registered under North Korean flag carrier Air Koryo rests on the tarmac at Beijing Capital International Airport on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Earlier in the week, a plane registered with Air Koryo landed at Beijing Capital International Airport in China, also for the first time since the pandemic.

Kim Jong-un last traveled to Vladivostok on his private train for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in April 2019.

The resumption of flights could also signal that the North and its traditional allies are working to strengthen their strategic relationships and people exchanges in the face of U.S.-led efforts to isolate them.

Russia has drawn international condemnation over its invasion of Ukraine, while China faces countermeasures by the United States intended to curb its technological aspirations, particularly in the field of semiconductors, as well as its claim to self-governing Taiwan.

Meanwhile, North Korea has escalated its nuclear and missile threats.

Russian and Chinese delegations led by Moscow’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Beijing’s Politburo member Li Hongzhong traveled to Pyongyang last month to attend commemorative events, including a military parade, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korean state media reported that Shoigu delivered to Kim a letter from Russian President Putin.

BY SARAH KIM, MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]