Chinese journalists return to North Korea after 5 years: South Korean ministry

Journalists from China’s state-run media outlets, CCTV and the People’s Daily, have returned to North Korea five years after their withdrawal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said South Korea’s unification ministry. North Korea has selectively opened its doors to foreign media, allowing a limited number of outlets to establish bureaus in its capital, Pyongyang.

Chinese, Russian, Japanese and a few Western agencies, such as AP and AFP, have been granted access under strict government oversight. During the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign journalists were asked to leave North Korea as part of its strict border control measures. Chinese journalists entered North Korea on Feb. 27, said the South’s Ministry of Unification, which oversees inter-Korean relations, adding that journalists from AP and AFP had not returned to North Korea yet.

It is not clear whether Russian journalists had also returned to the North.

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