China-North Korea rail services restored as neighbours try to get relations back on track

China will resume passenger train services to North Korea for the first time in six years – the latest sign of warming ties between the two countries as Pyongyang grapples with increasing tensions with the South and Donald Trump’s unpredictability. From Thursday, passenger trains between Beijing and Pyongyang will run four times a week – on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, China Railway Group (CREC) said on social media Tuesday night. The train will depart from Beijing at around 5.30pm and arrive in Pyongyang at around 6pm the next day. The return service will leave at around 10.30am and arrive in Beijing at about 8.40am the next day. Two carriages would be designated for foreign tourists, CREC said. A train service between Dandong on the Chinese border and Pyongyang will run daily in both directions, it added. CREC said the move was intended to “further promote travel, economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchange ... while strengthening friendship and improving the well-being of the two peoples”. Passengers can buy tickets in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanhaiguan, Shenyang and Dandong. But a staff member from China International Travel Service, which is responsible for ticket sales on international rail links, said passengers would have to present a valid North Korean visa and a copy of their passport to buy tickets. Chinese visitors made up the largest group of foreign tourists to North Korea before the Covid-19 pandemic saw the border sealed. Allowing tourism from the country to resume has been widely seen as a test of Pyongyang’s willingness to revive economic ties with Beijing, its largest trading partner. However, a tourist agency in Dandong said it was not aware that tourist services would be allowed to resume. The Chinese foreign ministry did not confirm or deny that rail services would restart, but said maintaining regular passenger services between the countries was of “great significance”. “China supports the relevant authorities of both sides in strengthening communication to create more favourable conditions for bilateral personnel exchanges,” Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for the ministry, said. North Korea has signalled a greater willingness to improve relations with China in recent months amid heightened tensions with Seoul and the growing uncertainty about US foreign policy under Trump. In September, the country’s leader Kim Jong-un made a rare trip to Beijing, where he had one-on-one meetings with Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China. Kim had already sent troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine. The three leaders also appeared together on the Tiananmen rostrum in Beijing during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory over Japan in World War II. The ongoing US-Israeli attacks on Iran have also raised speculation that Pyongyang – which has significantly advanced its nuclear programme over the past decade or so – may seek to further strengthen its ties with Beijing and Moscow to bolster deterrence against a possible US strike. On Tuesday, Kim sent a letter to Xi, in which he reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering” commitment to “closer ties” with China. The message was in response to Xi sending his congratulations to Kim last month after he was re-elected as general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea. North Korea closed its borders in late January 2020, shortly after Covid-19 first appeared in China, making it one of the first countries to do so. Cargo rail links between the two countries resumed in January 2022 and cargo trucks started running again the following year. Meanwhile, Air Koryo, North Korea’s only commercial airline, resumed flights to Beijing in August 2023. North Korea enforces some of the world’s strictest border controls. Tourists are required to join organised tour groups and may only enter the country using air or rail links. Although only small numbers from most countries were allowed before Covid, the closing of the border halted trips by Chinese tour groups, the main source of tourist visits. In February 2024, a group of 100 Russian tourists became the first visitors allowed into North Korea since the pandemic, raising speculation about when the world’s most isolated country would reopen its borders.

China-North Korea rail services restored as neighbours try to get relations back on track

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Restoring tourist travel has been seen as a litmus test of Pyongyang’s willingness to rebuild relations with its biggest trading partner

Restoring tourist travel has been seen as a litmus test of Pyongyang’s willingness to rebuild relations with its biggest trading partner