North Korea allows its citizens abroad to return home, eases of pandemic curbs

Seoul: North Korea said Sunday it will allow its citizens staying abroad to return home in line with easing pandemic situations worldwide, as the country slowly eases its draconian coronavirus restrictions.

In a brief statement carried by state media, the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters said those returning to North Korea will be put in quarantine for a week for “proper medical observation.”

The statement didn’t elaborate. But analysts predicted the announcement would lead to the return of North Korean students, workers and others who have had to stay abroad, mostly in China and Russia, because of the pandemic. The workers are a key source of foreign income for the country.

North Korea banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic and trade after the pandemic began. The lockdown has further worsened the North’s chronic economic difficulties and food insecurity.

Earlier this month, South Korea’s spy agency said North Korea was preparing to further reopen its borders gradually in a bid to revive its economy.

On Tuesday, a North Korean commercial jet landed in Beijing in what was the North’s first such commercial international flight known to leave the country in about 3 years. The plane returned from Beijing later in the day, but

it wasn’t known who was aboard it.