Direct flights between Moscow and Pyongyang have begun for the first time in decades, as Russia and North Korea continue to forge closer ties.
These flights will be operated by the Moscow-based airline Nordwind once per month. North Korea and Russia have been strengthening their military and economic ties over the past year, with North Korea sending thousands of troops to aid Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia and the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] are connected by long-term cooperation based on friendship and good neighbourliness,” said Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov. “I consider this event one of the most important in the modern history of relations between our countries.”
“The Boeing 777-200 aircraft will cover the distance between Moscow and Pyongyang in 8 hours,” according to the Russian Ministry of Transport. Following its departure from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Sunday evening, local time, a return flight will take off on Tuesday.
Previously, the only direct flights between Russia and Pyongyang departed from Russia’s eastern port of Vladivostok, operated by the North Korean flag carrier Air Koryo. Direct flights between Moscow and Pyongyang last took off in the mid-1990s.
Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defence pact in June 2024. Ukraine first reported that North Korean troops had been deployed to support Russia’s invasion in November, with an estimated 15,000 North Koreans being sent to Russian regions like Kursk to dislodge Ukrainian forces.
Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine, South Korean military intelligence said this month.
The two countries also agreed to resume direct passenger rail services between Moscow and Pyongyang in June, following their suspension during the covid-19 pandemic.
North Korea said this month that it would temporarily ban foreigners from its Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone resort, less than three weeks after the resort’s opening. Russian tourists had been able to visit the resort until the ban, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Wonsan in early July.
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