Passenger Train Connecting Pyongyang-Beijing to Resume Operations After Closure Due to Pandemic

China's border with North Korea in Dandong City. (Wikimedia Commons/Prince Roy)

JAKARTA - Passenger train services connecting Pyongyang and Beijing will resume this week for the first time in about six years, marking the gradual reopening of cross-border travel between North Korea and China.

According to the Chinese railway service center, international trains connecting the two capitals are scheduled to resume their round-trip service on Thursday, The Korea Times reported (11/3).

The route has been suspended since 2020, when North Korea closed its borders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The train will operate four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, officials said. The train is scheduled to depart Beijing at 17.26 (local time) and arrive in Pyongyang at around 18.00 the next day.

The train will stop in Dandong, a Chinese border city across the Amnok River from the North Korean city of Sinuiju. This route has long served as one of the main land transport routes between the two countries.

Officials said the service would initially be used primarily to transport diplomats and other travelers on official business trips. If there are still seats available, authorities may consider allowing general passengers to buy tickets.

China confirmed the resumption of passenger train services between the two countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular news briefing that China and North Korea are "friendly neighboring countries," and maintaining regular passenger train services has "an important significance for facilitating people-to-people exchanges between the two sides."

He added that China supports communication between the relevant authorities in both countries to create more comfortable conditions for cross-border travel.

North Korea closed its borders at the start of the pandemic and halted most international transport routes, including the Beijing-Pyongyang railway line. The country has gradually eased some travel restrictions in recent months, resuming limited cross-border exchanges with neighboring countries.

Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors were the largest group of foreign tourists to North Korea. Analysts say the resumption of train services could signal a broader recovery in people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation between the two countries.