BEIJING – North Korea’s official newspaper Rodong Sinmun did not report on March 13 the resumption of a passenger train service the previous day between Pyongyang and Beijing after a six-year hiatus, while a local newspaper in a Chinese border city ran a front-page article.

Observers say North Korean media may have refrained from reporting on the matter with Pyongyang worried about Beijing’s increasing economic presence in the country, which had shut its borders in early 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The article run by the daily in Dandong, a border city in north-eastern China’s Liaoning Province, apparently reflects local expectations that the restored train service will boost tourism and rejuvenate the economy.

The service linking the two capitals operates four times a week, while a daily train operation between Dandong and Pyongyang was also resumed on March 12.

Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun greeted passengers arriving at a Pyongyang station on March 12, describing the resumption of the rail link as “a good development the peoples from both countries have been looking forward to and a significant event in bilateral relations”, according to the Chinese Embassy.

At present, cross-border train passengers are limited to diplomats and businesspeople, as North Korea has yet to restart visa issuance for tourists.

Some people aboard a train that left Dandong for Pyongyang on March 13 were seen taking pictures of the Yalu River on the China-North Korea border with their smartphones.

A North Korean train crew member said before departure: “We can arrive in Pyongyang in the same day. (Dandong) is very close.”

The passenger train service, which began in 1954, has long been regarded as a symbol of bilateral friends...