Passenger train service between Pyongyang, Moscow to resume next week
This file photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on May 29 shows North Korea's Tumen River Station, whose renovation the North completed the previous day. The railway station links North Korea to Russia across the Tumen River. Yonhap
A passenger train service linking the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and Moscow will resume its operation next week after years of suspension over the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's state-run railway operator has said.
A railway service directly connecting the capitals of North Korea and Russia will start its operation June 17 under an agreement with North Korea's railway authorities, the Russian Railways said on its Telegram account Monday.
The passenger train service will be in operation twice per month on the route spanning more than 10,000 kilometers, and the travel will take eight days.
The Russian railway operator called it "the world's longest direct train route."
A train bound for Moscow will depart from Pyongyang on the 3rd and 17th of every month, while a service heading to Pyongyang will leave from Moscow on the 12th and 26th of each month.
Another train service linking Pyongyang and Russia's Khabarovsk, a city near Russia's border with North Korea, will start its once-per-month operation June 19.
The move came as North Korea and Russia have been deepening their cooperation in various fields, including the military and economy.
In May, North Korea and Russia held a ceremony in their respective border cities of Rason and Khasan to launch the construction of a road bridge linking the two nations.