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Orange Wang

China’s national flag carrier is set to run direct passenger flights to North Korea for the first time in six years later this month, the latest sign of warming ties between the two neighbours.
The official app of Air China, one of the country’s largest state-owned airlines, shows bookings have opened for direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang starting on March 30.
The service appears to be weekly for now, with bookings available only on Mondays.
Based on current listings, initial economy class fares for the Beijing-Pyongyang leg start at 2,630 yuan (US$381), while the return flight is priced slightly lower at 2,120 yuan. The journey takes nearly two hours each way.
Both legs of the route are listed as being operated with a Boeing 737 aircraft.
It will be the first Beijing-Pyongyang route Air China has operated since January 2020, when the service was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this week, China also resumed passenger train services to North Korea after a gap of six years.
China’s ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, on Thursday welcomed the first group of passengers arriving in Pyongyang by train from the northeastern Chinese border city of Dandong. He hailed the rail service restoration as “a major event in the development of ties between the two countries”.
“[It] will provide important transport support for promoting friendly exchanges and practical cooperation between China and [North Korea], and inject new vitality into the development of bilateral relations,” Wang said, according to a statement posted by the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang the same day.


Chinese visitors made up the biggest group of foreign tourists to North Korea before the border was closed because of Covid-19.
Allowing tourism to resume has been seen as a test of Pyongyang’s willingness to revive economic ties with Beijing, its largest trading partner.
North Korea’s only commercial airline, Air Koryo, resumed flights to Beijing in August 2023.
Cargo rail links between the two countries resumed in January 2022 and cargo trucks began running again the following year.
North Korea has signalled a greater willingness to improve relations with China in recent months amid heightened tensions with Seoul and growing uncertainty about Washington’s foreign policy under US President Donald Trump.
In a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping sent on Tuesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering” commitment to “closer ties” with China.
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, who met Trump at the White House on Friday, said that the US leader remained positive about the resumption of dialogue with his North Korean counterpart but left open the question of when they would meet again, according to Yonhap news agency.
Trump viewed a potential meeting with the North Korean leader as “something good” but left the timing open, Kim Min-seok was quoted as telling reporters in Washington.
Trump will visit China from March 31 to April 2, according to the White House.
North Korea launched about 10 ballistic missiles eastward on Saturday, Yonhap reported, citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The launches come as the US and South Korea conduct an 11-day joint exercise running through Thursday.


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Air China appears set to relaunch direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang later this month. Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images

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

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. Photo: Reuters

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The Blagoveshchensk–Heihe bridge crosses the Heilong (Amur) River, linking China and Russia. Photo: AFP/Amur region government press service

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US President Donald Trump is expected to visit Beijing and meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the end of the month. Photo: TNS

Da Wei from Tsinghua University said the nature of the US-China relationship had changed. Photo: Tsinghua University

News

China

Diplomacy

The revival of tourism is seen as a test of Pyongyang’s willingness to reignite economic ties with Beijing, its largest trading partner


The revival of tourism is seen as a test of Pyongyang’s willingness to reignite economic ties with Beijing, its largest trading partner.


Air China to resume North Korea flights after 6 years amid warming ties

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The revival of tourism is seen as a test of Pyongyang’s willingness to reignite economic ties with Beijing, its largest trading partner

The revival of tourism is seen as a test of Pyongyang’s willingness to reignite economic ties with Beijing, its largest trading partner