North Korea-Russia regular passenger rail service resumed...About 4 years after COVID-19.

Regular passenger rail services between North Korea and Russia, which were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have resumed in more than four years.

Citing customs spokesperson for Usuri in Russia's Far East, RIA Novosti reported that at 3 p.m. local time today (16th), Usuri customs officials approved a passenger train bound for North Korea at the Hasan railway checkpoint on the Russia-North Korea border, and two Russians were on board the train.

Citing Russia's Far East Railway Agency, Tas news agency also reported that the train left Hasan Station for North Korea's Tumen River Station at 3:30 p.m. local time.

Earlier, Russia's state-run railway company announced on the 10th that trains on the Tumen River Station-Hasan Station line will operate three times a week from the 16th, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

NK News, a U.S. media outlet specializing in North Korea, predicted that the resumption of passenger trains in North Korea could lead to North Korea's dispatch of foreign currency-earning workers to Russia, and that North Korean troops and batteries could be sent to the front lines of Ukraine by Russian railways.

Russia also resumed passenger rail operations with China yesterday, which had been suspended due to COVID-19.