Fresh reports have revealed that in lieu of broadening up their trade relations, North Korea and China have finally resumed their cross-border freight train trade thereby ending a five-month suspension linked to Covid-19.
North Korea had also maintained the rigid blockade since the beginning of the pandemic, with even trade with China which had been one of their economic lifelines slowing down to a trickle.
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Cross-border freight train services had also been suspended in late April after China’s border town of Dandong reported Covid outbreaks, reports said at the time. Pyongyang confirmed its own Omicron variant outbreak soon after.
“We believe the freight train service has resumed between China and North Korea,” an official from Seoul’s unification ministry, which handles relations with the North, told AFP on Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
China’s foreign ministry said Monday that after “friendly consultations” the neighbouring countries had decided to restart railway freight.
“The two sides will continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation, (and) actively ensure the safe and stable operation of railway freight,” said Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.North Korea confirmed an outbreak of the Omicron variant in the capital Pyongyang in May. It has blamed “alien things” from the South for causing the outbreak.
Kim Jong Un who had also fallen ill during the outbreak had declared victory over the virus in August and ordered the lifting of the country’s “maximum emergency epidemic prevention system” after officially reported cases fell to zero.
North Korea refers to “fever patients” rather than “Covid patients” in case reports, apparently due to a lack of testing capacity. It had also recorded nearly 4.8 million “fever” infections and just 74 deaths for an official fatality rate of 0.002 percent.
Experts, including the World Health Organisation, have questioned Pyongyang’s Covid statistics, as well as its claims to have brought the outbreak under control.