Air China resumed direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang on Monday, 30 March 2026, according to major media reports. This followed the restoration of passenger train services between the two capitals on 12 March 2026. The first passenger train between China and North Korea left Beijing for Pyongyang on Friday, 28 March 2025, after a six-year hiatus, with the K27 train arriving in Pyongyang shortly after 6pm BST on that date after a journey of 24 hours and 41 minutes with a stopover in Dandong, according to major media reports.
North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the Covid pandemic in January 2020 and only opened to Western travellers in February 2025, according to major media reports. Janet Newenham was one of the first international tourists to step foot on North Korean soil in more than five years, according to major media reports. On the final morning of a four-day visit in early 2025, Pyongyang announced it would suspend tourist entries until further notice, according to major media reports.
The reopening of these borders has been driven primarily by Pyongyang's timeline, which challenges the outdated assumption that Beijing dictates terms to a dependent client state.
The reasons for this sudden suspension remain unclear, as do the specific economic or diplomatic agreements that facilitated the later resumption of Air China flights and passenger train services. China is Pyongyang's biggest trading partner and a major ally, according to major media reports. However, Beijing has frequently voiced disapproval over North Korea's persistent missile tests and nuclear ambitions, according to major media reports.
In a sign of shifting diplomatic alignments, Kim Jong Un attended a massive military parade in Beijing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2025, according to major media reports. The current status of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, and how this affects its relations with China, remains an open question. According to Euronews, Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Asia Centre, described the reopening of borders as being driven primarily by Pyongyang's timeline, challenging the assumption that Beijing dictates terms to a dependent client state.
The war in Iran, in particular, increased 'the need for closer coordination between the two nations'.
According to Euronews, Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University, described the war in Iran as having increased the need for closer coordination between China and North Korea. These analyses suggest North Korea is exercising agency in its reopening, with geopolitical factors playing a role. Air Koryo resumed flights to Beijing in 2023, according to major media reports.
A Russian tour group was allowed to visit North Korea in 2024, according to major media reports. Before the pandemic, there were an estimated 300,000 foreign visitors to North Korea in 2019, with Chinese visitors accounting for 90% of all tourists, according to major media reports. However, it is unknown how many tourists have entered North Korea since the border reopening in 2025, and what the current entry restrictions are.
North Korea's long-term goals in reopening to tourism and transport links with China also remain uncertain.