China, North Korea Resume Freight Train Services

North Korea and China have resumed freight train services after a five-month suspension due to the pandemic, South Korean media has reported.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that a freight train travelled from the Chinese border city of Dandong to North Korea’s Sinuiju.

It was not immediately clear if the train that crossed the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge on Monday marked the resumption of regular services, but Yonhap news agency quoted an anonymous source in China as saying trains would run one or two times a day.

Trains had been suspended since April 29, after an outbreak of COVID-19 in Dandong.

China’s trade with North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), plunged to $318m in 2021, down 90 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to Chinese customs data.

Aid workers and analysts have warned that the country’s isolation has hammered its already fragile economy and exacerbated food shortages that have resulted in widespread chronic malnutrition.

North Korea’s economy shrank an estimated 0.1 per cent last year, according to South Korea’s central bank, following a 4.5 percent decline in 2020.