North Korea has allowed citizens stranded abroad due to Covid to return home for the first time since 2020.

An Air Koryo aircraft stands on the runway at Beijing International Airport after arriving from Pyongyang. Credit: Andy Wong/ap

North Korea is finally allowing stranded citizens to return home more than three years after borders were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The country's State Headquarters for the Prevention of Emergency Epidemics said the approval is in line with “easing the pandemic around the world.”

But those returning to North Korea “will be under proper medical supervision.” monitoring in quarantine units for a week,” according to a statement from the North Korean state news agency KCNA.

North Korea was one of the first countries to close its borders in early 2020 as the virus began to spread in neighboring China.

Pyongyang banned tourists, closed its border with China and closed ports, leading to food shortages and dents . the economy of the country.

The British Embassy, ​​like many other consuls, was forced to close due to the inability to rotate staff or receive materials.

Two North Koreans arrived at the Beijing airport after the arrival of an Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang. Photo: GREG BAKER/afp

This announcement late Saturday night is expected to bring back North Korean students, workers and others who have been shut down. dropped out due to the pandemic. Many of those working overseas are in China and Russia.

“With the latest announcement, a large-scale return of North Koreans is expected to take place overland as well,” said Dr. Cheong Son-Chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea.

Given the need for a week-long quarantine, it is unlikely that North Korea will reopen to foreign tourists anytime soon, Dr. Cheong said.

If there are no Covid outbreaks among returning citizens, foreigners may then be expected to enter the country in next year, he added.

South Korea's spy agency predicted earlier this month that the North is preparing for a further gradual opening of the economy in an attempt to jumpstart the economy.

On Tuesday, a commercial flight by the North Korean state Air Koryo went to Beijing. This is the country's first known international commercial flight since early 2020.

The plane returned to Pyongyang the same day, but it was not clear who was on board.

North Korea resumed freight trains with China, its biggest trading partner, late last year after making a highly dubious claim that the Kim Jong-un regime had overcome Covid – just three months after it first admitted to having cases.