North Korea sealed its borders more than a year ago, grounded flights and closed its borders with neighboring China and Russia due to the pandemic.
This week, some Russians found a way out.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that several employees at its North Korean embassy had followed an unusual route – one that included a bus ride and a ride on a hand-held railway car – to reach Russia’s border with Russia.
The group included the embassy’s third secretary, Vladislav Sorokin, and his 3-year-old daughter, the ministry said on its official Facebook page. There was also a photo posted of several children sitting on the trolley next to suitcases, with adults walking behind them on a train track and with snow-capped hills in the distance.
When the group arrived at a Russian border post in Siberia, they were met by colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and taken to an airport in Vladivostok, the ministry’s post said.
From the post, it was not clear whether the group violated North Korean regulations or encountered police or border officials. The ministry did not immediately respond to an e-mail asking for further details about the trip.
North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 for fear that a Covid-19 outbreak could severely test the subordinate public health system and a domestic economy that has already struggled under international sanctions, analysts say.
The country has also deployed crack troops along its border with China with ‘shoot to kill’ orders to prevent smugglers from bringing in the coronavirus, Gen. Robert B. Abrams, United States Commander military in South Korea, said in September.
The leader of the North, Kim Jong-un, said last summer that he would not accept international aid after devastating floods in his country, for fear that aid could come in from outside the virus, state news media reported.
But Mr. Kim is apparently willing to import Covid-19 vaccines. According to a report this month by Covax, an international group negotiating vaccine doses, North Korea is expected to receive nearly two million doses of AstraZeneca by mid-year.
Northern state news media have long insisted the country has no confirmed Covid-19 cases, but outside experts are skeptical.