“Pyongyang plans to reopen [China borders] in early June,” the briefed source said about the arrangements.

10:01

North Korea’s food crisis: How hungry are people in the hermit kingdom?

North Korea’s food crisis: How hungry are people in the hermit kingdom?

Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity, the person said customs staff at the Chinese land ports returned to work earlier this year, getting ready for a resumption of cargo truck transport.

However, it remains entirely possible that Pyongyang could delay the border reopening to the second half of this year.

“[When to reopen] is entirely up to North Korea, because they are still worried about the pandemic, which China does not care about any more,” the source said, adding that the food shortage is the biggest motivation for North Korea to resume normal cross-border freights soon.

Out of around a dozen land checkpoints along the countries’ 1,420km (882-mile) border, only a cross-border railway connecting the northeast Chinese city of Dandong in Liaoning with the North Korean city of Sinuiju is in operation.

North Korea opens up to Beijing which seeks ‘understanding and trust’

Sea shipments have been another means of Chinese products flowing to North Korea. And smuggling has also been pervasive.

One of the Liaoning travel agencies, which is already promoting itineraries to North Korea from mid-June on various Chinese social media platforms, said it received the notice from North Korea’s State General Bureau of Tourist Guidance, the office that organises tourism for foreigners.

“We were told that the border would reopen on the 10th of June, but there is yet to be an official announcement,” a staff member at the agency said.

Speculation about a potential border reopening has been rife since China’s ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, visited Pyongyang in late March – making him the first foreign diplomat to arrive in the country since January 2020.

Wang, who was appointed in December 2020 but had been unable to formally take up the post due to coronavirus border controls, was welcomed by North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui with a banquet on Monday.

This came after the World Health Organization declared on Friday that Covid-19 was no longer a global health emergency.

China has been providing a vital economic lifeline to North Korea, as bilateral trade between the two accounts for more than 90 per cent of the latter’s total trade.

Last year, China-North Korea trade was valued at US$1.03 billion thanks to a resumption of freight trains, but these were halted for five months – from late April to late September – due to pandemic lockdowns on both sides. The total trade value was 63 per cent lower than in 2019, but more than three times the value from 2021.

North Korea relies heavily on imports from China for most daily necessities – from food to clothing. In return, exports to China serve as a major source of foreign currency for Pyongyang.

The three-year border closure has also weighed on North Korean workers living in China – another big source of outside income for North Korea – as they have been unable to return home.

Ventilators to masks, North Korea bought Chinese supplies before it had Covid

Pyongyang did not report its first case of Covid-19 until May last year, but the country had been importing large amounts of medical supplies – from ventilators to masks – since January 2022.In August, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared victory in the battle against the coronavirus, ordering a lifting of anti-pandemic restrictions. Some observers saw the declaration as a prelude to restoring trade.

Voice of America reported last week that satellite images from San Francisco-based satellite imaging company Planet Labs showed that the storage area on the Chinese side of the Yalu River Bridge, connecting Dandong and Sinuiju, was fully occupied on May 1 – likely by cross-border cargo trucks – after having been largely empty for three years.

In February, Nikkei Asia reported that only some trucks loaded with grain and other goods were allowed to cross the border from the Chinese city of Hunchun to North Korea’s Rason special economic zone.

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