
DALIAN, China -- Shortages of food and other necessities have driven North Korea to reopen its most important trade corridor with China after trying to stamp out the coronavirus with Beijing-style lockdowns and travel restrictions.
North Korean companies have asked Beijing to resume freight train service between the Chinese city of Dandong and Sinuiju in North Korea, according to a Chinese source familiar with the situation in the North. Roughly 70% of trade between the two countries -- which itself accounts for 90% of North Korea's total trade -- is conducted along that route.