China says rail-borne trade with North Korea has restarted

China says trade via a railroad link with North Korea has restarted, giving a much-needed boost to Kim Jong Un’s battered economy as the neighbors restored a service Pyongyang cut about a year and a half ago due to pandemic fears.

“After friendly consultations between the two sides, freight in goods in Dandong has resumed,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday at a regular press briefing, referring to a Chinese border city.

“This work will be conducted while ensuring pandemic prevention and safety, and to help normal trade exchanges between the two countries,” he added.

Kim’s decision to close borders at the start of the pandemic slammed the brakes on the little legal trade it had with China, his state’s biggest benefactor. It also helped push the sanctions-hit economy into its biggest contraction in more than two decades, with Kim making rare admissions of the country’s difficulties in recent months.

The rail connection is North Korea’s main link to China and reopening the trade route could take pressure off Kim to return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks with the U.S., where the Biden administration is dangling the prospects financial rewards in exchange for steps to wind down its atomic arsenal.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said earlier that North Korea had sent a freight train to China, adding adding the two countries have been preparing to reopen their border since last year. Yonhap News Agency reported that a freight train crossed into the world’s No. 2 economy over the weekend and returned Monday, citing people it did not identify.

Trade with China plunged in 2020, dealing a bigger blow to North Korea than international sanctions to punish it for its nuclear weapons program. The border closure has also caused political strains as home, leaving North Korea’s economy around 9% smaller than when Kim took power a decade ago with a pledge to improve living standards.

Kim’s regime has found ways to evade sanctions, with the U.S. and United Nations Security Council accusing it of stepping up its cybercrimes to fill its depleted coffers.

North Korea tested two suspected ballistic missiles on Monday, South Korea said, the fourth in a series of launches this year that are seen as ratcheting up pressure on the Biden administration.

Kim told a meeting of top ruling party officials at the end of last year that he was more interested in bolstering his arsenal than returning to stalled nuclear talks with the U.S., while also urging them to focus on easing food shortages.