N. Korea approves the first post-pandemic entry of Chinese students

This photo, taken from the website of the Chinese Embassy in North Korea, shows Chinese scholarship students posing for a group photo after arriving in Pyongyang on May 2, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)

SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea has approved the admission of more than 80 Chinese students who want to study in the North. This is the first time foreign students have been accepted after years of strict border closures to ward off the pandemic.

On Thursday evening, the Chinese embassy in North Korea posted a photo on its website of 41 government scholarship students who had arrived in Pyongyang the day before.

The embassy said the students’ arrival marked the “resumption of study abroad programs between China and North Korea,” adding that 45 self-funded Chinese students also recently entered the North.

North Korea began to resume limited exchanges with China, its longtime ally and biggest economic benefactor, after partially opening its border in August last year after more than three years and six months of closure.

The North has also approved the entry of government delegations from China and Russia, as well as group tourists from Russia, since the partial reopening of its borders.

(Yonhap)