Taekwondo athletes appear to be North Korea’s first delegation to travel since border closed in 2020
- Around 80 North Korean athletes are spotted travelling through Beijing to Kazakhstan for the International Taekwon-do Federation World Championships
- According to South Korea’s spy agency, North Korea is planning to further reopen its borders to boost its struggling economy
North Korean taekwondo athletes and officials were travelling through Beijing on Friday morning, apparently the country’s first delegation to travel abroad since the nation closed its borders in early 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The group of around 80 men and women wearing white track suits with “Taekwondo-Do” printed on the back and the North Korean flag on the front were in the departure hall of Beijing’s international airport. They reportedly arrived on Wednesday or on Thursday.
The group was expected to take an Air Astana flight to Kazakhstan to compete at the International Taekwon-do Federation World Championships, according to Japanese and South Korean media. The competition is being held in Astana through August 30.
North Korea has extremely limited air connections at the best of times, and travel all but ended when Pyongyang closed the national borders to prevent the spread of Covid-19. It is not known how badly North Koreans were affected by the illness, since most of the country’s 26 million people have no access to vaccines, lack basic healthcare and are restricted from sharing information with the outside world.
In September 2022, North Korea resumed goods train service with China, its biggest trading partner and economic pipeline.
On Thursday, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that North Korea is preparing to further reopen its border gradually as part of its efforts to revitalise its struggling economy.
