North Korea allows citizens abroad to return home

The Star

orth Korea said it will allow its citizens staying abroad to return home in line with easing pandemic situations worldwide, as the country slowly eases its draconian Covid-19 restrictions.  North Korea’s reopening has been one of the world’s slowest.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/3adaxasv  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 North Korea says it's letting its citizens back in for the first time since the pandemic,

00:06 following some four years of tight border controls.

00:10 That's according to the North's official media, who made the announcement Sunday.

00:14 Pyongyang's epidemic prevention official said a day earlier the approval was in line with

00:18 the "ease worldwide pandemic situation," and added that returnees would be "put under

00:24 proper medical observation at quarantine wards for a week."

00:28 The announcement appears to be the North's first public announcement of the policy change.

00:33 It comes days after a flight from Pyongyang landed in Beijing for the first time since

00:37 lockdowns began in 2020 that forced many foreign delegations to close their embassies in Pyongyang

00:44 because they were unable to rotate staff or ship in supplies.

00:48 Though it was not immediately clear who was aboard the flight, Western tour companies

00:52 that operate in North Korea said it appeared to be a flight to shuttle North Koreans stuck

00:57 in China for the past three years back home.

01:01 North Korea's reopening has been one of the world's slowest.

01:04 Though cargo train and ship traffic has slowly increased over the past year, North Korea

01:09 has only just begun to allow some international passenger travel.

01:13 In a first since before the pandemic, Chinese and Russian government delegations flew to

01:18 Pyongyang last month, and this month buses carrying North Korean athletes to a taekwondo

01:24 tournament in Kazakhstan crossed the border into China.

01:27 The government said it will continue to allow some international passenger travel to North

01:34 Korea.

01:35 The government said it will continue to allow some international passenger travel to North

01:36 Korea.

01:37 The government said it will continue to allow some international passenger travel to North

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