INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
North Korea and Russia have resumed cross-border railway trade, ending a two-year hiatus caused by Covid-19 border restrictions,
North Korea had imported 138 horses at a cost of $584,302 between 2010 and 2019
Twelve Russian horses, which have great symbolic power in North Korean mythology and political culture, and ponies were delivered to North
It did not specify the date of future supplies.North Korea was one of the first countries to seal its borders in January 2020 despite not
officially reporting any Covid-19 infections for more than two years.Russia continued to deliver food and medicine to the insular state
reported last month that Pyongyang had launched preparations toopen new trade offices across Russia to expand wheat flour and energy
imports.Previous reporting by the Seoul-based Daily NK suggested that North Korea had imported wheat from Russia in August and gas in
October in return for support for the Ukraine invasion.North Korea was one of the five countries that voted against a UN resolution
condemning Moscow for its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.Pyongyang in July became the third country to recognize Ukraine's Donetsk and
annexed those regions in late September, along with two other partially occupied Ukrainian territories, in a move widely condemned by
reconstruction from the war.
