North Korea sends delegation to China for emergency supplies

North Korea's unofficial delegation visited China's Dandong a few days back for emergency supplies as the newly reopened border between the two countries was closed due to a spike in coronavirus cases, a media report said.

Rail trade had resumed on November 1, with trains travelling from Dandong, China, over the Yalu River to Sinuiju, North Korea. But eight days later, the link was closed again due to a lockdown in China's Dandong from a new spike in coronavirus cases, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA) citing sources.

An unofficial delegation from North Korea also travelled to China for emergency supplies on the same day the border was closed.

The delegation asked Chinese officials in Dandong for cooking oil and seasonings, construction materials and several kinds of fabrics, said sources.

"Two train cars crossed the bridge on November 8 from North Korea, and at first we thought it was just a maintenance team coming to inspect the condition of the railroad connection between Sinuiju and Dandong, because we heard they'd be coming," RFA quoted a Chinese citizen of Korean descent from Dandong as saying.

"The railway maintenance team were in the front car, but there were three unofficial delegations from Pyongyang in the second car. They were here to request emergency supplies," the source said.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 in January 2020, North Korea's border with China was closed, which hampered Pyongyang's market economy that relies upon Chinese trade to stay afloat.

( With inputs from ANI )

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor