China and North Korea have resumed freight train service

According to South Korean media, freight train services between North Korea and China have resumed after a five-month stoppage due to the pandemic.
According to the South Korean Yonhap news agency, a freight train travelled from the Chinese border city of Dandong to Sinuiju in North Korea on Monday.
After a COVID-19 outbreak in Dandong on April 29, trains had been put on hold.
It was unclear at first whether the train that crossed the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge on Monday signalled the return of regular services, but Yonhap news agency cited an anonymous source in China as stating trains will run once or twice every day.
China is generally responsible for more than 90% of North Korea’s trade, but during the outbreak, cross-border trade has been severely restricted.
Chinese customs figures show that trade between China and North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), fell to $318 million in 2021, a 90% decrease from levels prior to the epidemic.
Analysts and aid workers have cautioned that the nation’s isolation has weakened its already flimsy economy and made food shortages, which have led to widespread chronic malnutrition, worse.
‘The importance of the most recent freight train service would depend on whether it signalled the start of regular operations,’ said Alastair Morgan, the British ambassador to North Korea from 2005 to 2008.
According to Morgan, a one-time shipment of, say, food or medical supplies would not be out of the ordinary.