First North Korean Commercial Flight in 3 Years Lands in China

The first commercial flight to depart North Korea in three years landed in China on Tuesday, as the secluded country slowly reopens its borders following a COVID pandemic-induced lockdown.

North Korea's national airline Air Koryo operated flight JS151 that left from Pyongyang and landed at Beijing's PEK airport on Tuesday at 9:17 a.m. local time, CNN reported.

Chinese authorities approved flights between the two countries during changes made to China's COVID travel restrictions in January, according to the outlet.

Western companies that provide tours in North Korea said Tuesday's flight appeared to be intended to return North Koreans who had been stuck in China after their native country blocked virtually all foreign travel in its effort to control the spread of COVID-19, Reuters reported.

Photos taken by Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, showed passengers checking in for the return flight to Pyongyang with piles of luggage and wrapped boxes, according to Reuters.

A diplomat told the news service Air Koryo also has flights scheduled to Vladivostok, Russia on Friday, marking the first air travel between North Korea and Russia since the former closed its borders in January 2020.

"This flight isn’t a full resumption of the route yet, it is a special flight for Koreans only to take people home again after years being stuck overseas," Simon Cockerell, general manager at Beijing-based Koryo Tours, told Reuters. "The same as the flights that seem likely to happen soon from Vladivostok.

"It’s all happening, but for Koreans first, the rest of us…later," he said.

According to CNN, the flight to Russia is one of four scheduled between Pyongyang and Vladivostok in the coming days. Air Koryo will fly round-trip, hour-long flights on both Friday and Monday.

Since the start of the pandemic, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has installed or upgraded hundreds of miles of border walls and fences, further tightening the government's control of people and goods into the isolated nation, Reuters reported.