North Korea And China's Cross-Border Trains Operates Again After Five Months Of Closed

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

JAKARTA - The cross-border rail operation between North Korea and China appears to have restarted after a five-month suspension, South Korea's Unification Ministry said on Monday.

Comments from the ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, emerged after Yonhap news agency reported a freight train from Dandong, crossing a bridge to the city of Sinuiju in North Korea.

"North Korea and China have not officially confirmed, but seeing the various circumstances, the operation of goods trains between North Korea and China appears to have resumed today," ministry spokesman Cho Joong-hoon told a briefing.

Railway crossings have been suspended since April 29, when China suspended service with North Korea, after consultation due to COVID-19 infection in the border town of Dandong.

Shortly after, North Korea reported its first COVID-19 outbreak, which it now says has ended.

The suspension in April came less than four months after North Korea relaxed its border lockdown imposed in early 2020 against the coronavirus.

The global aid group blamed border restrictions for North Korea's deteriorating economic woes, while the risk of food supplies to millions of people.

Last month North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared victory over COVID-19, ordering the lifting of the maximum anti-epidemic measures imposed in May, though adding that North Korea must maintain a "strong anti-epidemic deterrent".

Meanwhile, North Korea has never confirmed how many people have contracted COVID-19, apparently because it lacks the means to conduct extensive testing, with experts cast doubt on the number.