BEIJING: A passenger train from China arrived in the North Korean capital on Thursday, state media said, after a six-year hiatus since the service was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.
China is North Korea´s largest trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the isolated nuclear state.
Train journeys between the East Asian neighbours were halted in 2020 under strict border closures to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
China´s state news agency Xinhua said a train that departed from Dandong, a city in the northeast bordering North Korea, arrived in Pyongyang on Thursday evening.
South Korea´s Yonhap news agency reported earlier that a train had been seen crossing the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge over the Yalu River.
China Railways said in a separate statement that regular train services would also resume between Beijing and Pyongyang on Thursday evening.
AFP journalists aboard the K27 train departing from Beijing and bound for Pyongyang on Thursday saw carriages reserved only for passengers travelling to North Korea.
Several people at the station gathered around the departures board to take photos of the “Beijing to Pyongyang” listing.
The overnight train is set to make a few stops, including at the port city of Tianjin, and then head northeast to Dandong on the border.
