North Korea may finally be opening up its borders after two years of enforced isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rationale could represent the leadership’s growing understanding that the country urgently requires foreign economic assistance.
The apparent resumption of North Korean freight train travel into neighbouring China reflects the North’s tentative openness. However, it comes as Pyongyang has conducted many weapons tests, the most recent of which was the launch of two suspected ballistic missiles on Thursday, as well as a veiled warning to resume nuclear and long-range missile testing aimed at the American heartland.
The seemingly contradictory message — on the one hand, slightly opening the border while militarily pressuring Washington over a prolonged freeze in nuclear talks — likely reflects a recognition that the pandemic has exacerbated an economy already battered by decades of mismanagement and crippling US-led sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles.
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