Passenger train who started from Pyongyang he arrived at Moscow, thus marking the reopening of the world's longest direct rail line between the capitals of North Korea and Russia after a five-year suspension due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The train left Pyongyang on June 17, and it took eight days to arrive at the Yaroslavl station in Moscow, reports RIA Novosti.
The railway line between the two capitals has been suspended since February 2020.
The Pyongyang-Moscow route, over 10.000 kilometers long, is known as the longest direct railway line in the world.
The trains will run twice a month, and tickets will be on sale about 60 days before departure, according to the agency.
Photo: Vladimir Smirnov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via APKim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin
What is the significance of this railway line?
It is the only direct railway connection between North Korea and the outside world, through which a limited but strategically important traffic of goods and passengers takes place between the two countries. The line passes over the border bridge on the Tumen River, near Hasan Station, and continues to the Russian Far East.
In the last year, due to the deepening isolation of North Korea and growing cooperation with Russia, railway traffic has intensified - both in the form of humanitarian and technical assistance, as well as military-industrial exchange, according to Western sources.
The return of regular lines is also interpreted as an attempt by Pyongyang to strengthen its alliance with Moscow, at a time when both regimes are suffering international sanctions and are looking for alternatives to the Western order.
Outdated infrastructure
Although the trains are rare and the infrastructure is outdated, this line today has symbolic, political and logistical significance for both regimes.
After decades of isolation and occasional border closures, including Pyongyang's strict pandemic measures, the resumption of rail traffic is a signal of intensifying Russian-North Korean relations.
Russia, under comprehensive Western sanctions due to the war in Ukraine, is increasingly cooperating with countries that share its anti-Western orientation.
On the other hand, North Korea uses this cooperation to strengthen its economic and security position, but also to show that it is not completely cut off from international flows.
