The first passenger train service between Beijing and North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang, in six years has sold out, a ticketing office in the Chinese capital confirmed on Tuesday, ahead of its 12 March departure.
This resumption of rail travel, halted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, re-establishes a vital transport connection between the largely isolated nation and its principal economic ally.
The journey, exclusively available to business visa holders, saw tickets purchased by entrepreneurs, government officials, and journalists, according to the Beijing office. Tickets for the subsequent service, scheduled for 18 March, remain available.
China’s railway authority said in a notice that Beijing-Pyongyang trains will operate four times a week in both directions on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday while Dandong-Pyongyang trains will run daily.
The resumption from March 12 will “further promote China-North Korea travel, trade and economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual well‑being and friendship,” the notice said.
North Korea remains closed to most foreign tourism, with limited exceptions largely for Russian tour groups under restricted arrangements, according to travel agencies organising trips to the country.
Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors made up the largest share of foreign tourists to North Korea, the agencies said.
Tour organisers said on Monday that North Korea had cancelled next month’s Pyongyang Marathon for unspecified reasons. The race is one of the few events that has been open to international participants in the isolated state.
China’s exports to North Korea reached a six-year high of $2.3 billion last year, a 25% annual increase. In November, China dropped its longstanding call for North Korea’s denuclearization from an official arms-control white paper. In a message to Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 9, Kim said cooperation between the two countries “will become even closer in the future as we advance the common cause of socialism,” North Korean state media reported.
Beijing’s foreign ministry told Reuters that China and North Korea have been “actively advancing border cooperation” to foster exchanges, without addressing Pyongyang’s ties with Moscow.
