North Korean commercial plane lands in China for first time in three years

Air travel between the Hermit Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom is possible once again.

Air Koryo flight JS151 from Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, arrived at Beijing’s PEK airport on Tuesday at 9:17 a.m. local time, according to the Beijing Capital International Airport website.

This is the first known international commercial flight to leave North Korea since the country closed its borders in January 2020, after deciding to cut almost all contact with the outside world to prevent an influx of coronavirus cases.

The resumption of North Korean flag carrier Air Koryo’s regular flights between China and the DPRK was approved by Chinese authorities amid the changes in Chinese covid travel restrictions in January, according to a statement by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The one-hour flights travel between Pyongyang and the southeastern Russian city of Vladivostok, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for a summit in 2019.