A North Korean freight train arrived in China's border city of Dandong on Sunday following a long pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the resumption of full-fledged trade between the two countries still remains uncertain, a media report said.
A freight train from North Korea arrived in Dandong, China on Sunday, Kyodo News reported citing sources close to the matter said
North Korea has cut off land traffic to and from China due to worries that the virus, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, could enter its territory.
However, North Korea claims that no COVID-19 cases have been found in the country.
In Dandong, the customs office near the Yalu River has been effectively closed as North Korea has banned its citizens from visiting China. So far, the suspension of a train link between them was believed to have continued for more than a year, said Kyodo News.
Due to the pause in the trade between the two countries, restaurants and shops run by Koreans in the Chinese border city have been shuttered.
Apart from North Korea's choked trade with China, experts raise concerns that North Korean citizens might not be receiving adequate food or daily necessities due to agricultural devastation by powerful typhoons and flooding.
North Korea is completely dependent on China for its trade as Beijing accounts for Pyonyang's 90 per cent of trade.
But the infectious disease seems to have made North Korea vulnerable against a backdrop of chronic shortages of food and medical equipment triggered by international economic sanctions, said Kyodo News.
( With inputs from ANI )
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