The Pyongyang–Moscow train ahead of departure from the North Korean capital Pyongyang, 1 March 2018. Photo: Tom Masters 

Russia and North Korea are to restart a direct train service linking Moscow and Pyongyang next week for the first time since 2020, Russian Railways announced on Monday, as the two countries continue to strengthen bilateral ties.

The state-owned rail monopoly said it had agreed with North Korea’s Ministry of Railways to restart the twice-monthly passenger service between the two capitals from 17 June, with an additional monthly service to run between Pyongyang and the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East from 19 June — exactly a year to the day since Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un signed a “comprehensive” partnership agreement in Pyongyang.

The services are to be operated by Korean State Railway, with trains on the Moscow-Pyongyang route stopping at major Russian cities including Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk, Russian Railways said, adding that the eight-day, 10,000-kilometre journey would be the world’s longest direct railway route.

Passenger services connecting both Moscow and Khabarovsk with the North Korean capital ran regularly until 2020, when they were suspended due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The two countries previously resumed a passenger service linking the border villages of Khasan in Russia and Tumangang in North Korea via the Friendship Bridge over the Tumen River late last year, though a Reuters investigation found that the bridge had been used since at least 2023 to deliver North Korean munitions for use by the Russian military in Ukraine.

In April, the two governments began the construction of the first road bridge over the river, expected to be completed by the end of 2026, in a move Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said symbolised Moscow and Pyongyang’s “shared commitment to strengthening friendly neighbourly ties” under last year’s partnership agreement. A “tourist train” between Russia’s Vladivostok and the North Korean port city of Rason was then launched in May.

Russia and North Korea have grown increasingly close since the partnership agreement was signed last June, with approximately 600 of the 14,000 North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine estimated to have been killed fighting in Russia’s western Kursk region.