Diplomats Take 34 Hours- and a Push-to Leave N. Korea

The diplomats pushed the trolley over a railway bridge for around a kilometre to reach Russian Federation.

Russian diplomats use a hand-pushed rail trolley while crossing the demarcation line between North Korea and Russia.

Eight Russian diplomats left for the North Korean border on Tuesday, multiple informed sources told NK News, further depleting an already skeletal presence of foreign residents who face strict COVID-19-related restrictions that affect their ability to acquire basic goods, get medical treatment or travel outside of Pyongyang.

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The ministry posted photos showing embassy employees with their children and suitcases on a trolley.

North Korea has not reported any confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but has imposed crippling border closings, banned most worldwide travel, and severely restricted movement inside the country. They had to push themselves and all of their luggage the rest of the way on a manual-powered rail trolley. Since then, the secretive nation has undertaken strict measures to try and prevent the spread of the virus over borders - including blocking worldwide travel.

The ministry said the group had been working in its embassy in Pyongyang and was forced to improvise because travel connections between the two countries had been cut off for more than a year.

The Embassy posted pictures of third secretary Vladislav Sorokin pushing his family and luggage along the rail tracks, while wearing thick clothing against the cold.

Ministry officials greeted the group at a border station on the Russian side, where they then travelled by bus to the Vladivostok airport, the post said. The group was met by colleagues on the other side when they arrived at the Khasan train station in Russian Federation.

North Korea has imposed severe restrictions at its border since January a year ago, halting foreign tourism, some global trade, and all civilian forms of transport in and out of the country. Analysts believe the true figures are suppressed, the magazine reported.