An Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang landed in Beijing early Tuesday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began in 2020, as North Korea cracks open its border to some passenger travel.
The flight, JS151, arrived at 9:17 a.m., shortly ahead of its scheduled time. It wasn't immediately clear who was aboard, but Western tour companies that operated in North Korea said it appeared to be a special flight that would on the return carry back North Koreans who had been trapped in China by the years of border closures.
The flight comes amid a slow reopening for one of the world's most politically and economically isolated countries.