Russian airline Nordwind will begin direct service between Moscow and North Korean capital Pyongyang later this month, Russia’s Transport Ministry announced. Ties between the two countries have grown closer since a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) last year. File Kremlin Pool Photo by Vladimir Smirnov/Sputnik/EPA-EFE
North Korea and Russia will begin operating direct flight service linking their capital cities of Pyongyang and Moscow later this month, Russia’s Transport Ministry announced.
Nordwind Airlines, a Russian budget carrier, will begin direct flights between the two cities on July 27, the ministry said Monday night on its Telegram channel. Travel time will be about eight hours.
“For the first time, the capitals of Russia and the DPRK will be connected by direct flights,” the ministry said, using the official acronym for North Korea.
“Further flights will be operated once a month — to create sustainable demand and load flights,” the ministry added.
Currently, the only direct flights between the two countries are operated by North Korea’s Air Koryo, connecting Pyongyang with Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
The announcement comes amid growing military and economic ties between Russia and North Korea, highlighted by Pyongyang supplying troops and weapons to Moscow for its war against Ukraine.
North Korea has gradually begun opening up to international tourism after sealing its borders at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020. So far, foreign visitors have come almost exclusively from Russia.
Russian travelers were the first to return to North Korea post-COVID on the Pyongyang-Vladivostok Air Koryo route early last year. Direct rail service between Pyongyang and Moscow also resumed in June after a five-year suspension.
Last week, the North welcomed around 10 Russian guests — including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — to its sprawling new beach resort on the east coast, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday.
The Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area runs along 2.5 miles of beachfront and has a capacity for up to 20,000 guests. At a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the completion of the resort one of the country’s “greatest successes this year” and said it would “play a leading role in establishing the tourist culture of the DPRK.”
Launched in 2014, the Wonsan project was initially slated to open in April 2019 but faced numerous setbacks, including international sanctions on materials and COVID-19 pandemic closures.
During his visit to Wonsan last week, Lavrov said that Russia also plans to restore maritime passenger routes between the two countries.
“Our Korean friends have expressed interest in having more Russians at the wonderful resort of Wonsan and other resorts in the DPRK,” Lavrov said at a press conference. “I have no doubt that this will happen.”
