Coronavirus: North Korean train makes first reported crossing into China since border lockdown
- The train is in Dandong, China to possibly pick up ‘emergency materials’, Yonhap reported
- Elsewhere, Thailand has recorded its first Omicron death, while India says almost 7 in 10 adults have been double-vaccinated
Chinese brokers said they expect the resumption of regular trade with North Korea as soon as Monday, after a North Korean train pulled into a Chinese border town on Sunday in the first such crossing since anti-coronavirus border lockdowns began in 2020.
“My business partner in North Korea told me on Friday that the land border will reopen to cargo freight on January 17,” a Chinese commodities trader in the border town of Dandong told Reuters.
“By Saturday the whole import-export community here has heard about this and people have began snapping up carriages to move their cargo over,” he said.
North Korea has not officially reported any Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began in early 2020, and has imposed strict antivirus measures, including border closures and domestic travel curbs.
Another Chinese trader said she can arrange for cargo to be loaded onto a train in Dandong which is scheduled to cross over to North Korea on Monday.
On Sunday she posted three photos of freight carriages taken inside a railway station on social media, and said that the first batch of cargo for the resumption of rail link between Dandong and North Korea was being loaded.
Both traders refused to be named, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
