A group of Russian diplomats spent more than 30 hours to get out of North Korea this week, along with their family members. As per newly released photos and videos, one of those officials ended up pushing his luggage and children on a rail trolley to reach Russia.
Eight employees of Russia's Embassy in Pyongyang and their family members traveled by bus and train before pushing themselves across the Russian border for about a kilometer over railway tracks.
This is because North Korea has blocked most passenger transport to limit the Coronavirus spread, even though Kim Jong Un's regime has not yet officially declared any COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. However, the claim about zero cases has been disputed by observers.
COVID-19 Restrictions and the Diplomats
According to reports, since early 2020, wagons, as well as trains have been forbidden to enter or leave North Korea and most of the international flights have been canceled. So, there was no other choice for the Russian diplomats to return to their native.
In a Facebook post, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "Since the borders have been closed for more than a year and passenger traffic has been stopped, it took a long and difficult journey to get home."
The ministry has shared some photos which sowed the Russian diplomats on the trolley with their luggage. They were also seen cheering while crossing the Russian border after waiting in North Korea for several months.
"The only man of the small squad and the main ′′ engine ′′ of the non-self-propelled drizzle this time was the third secretary of the Embassy Vladislav Sorokin," the ministry wrote while sharing the images of the event. Sorokin pushed the trolley across a rail bridge over the Tumen River into Russia.
This happened after the group of Russian-employees, including Sorokin and his three-year-old daughter Varya, had traveled 32 hours by train and two hours by bus from North Korea's forbidden city, Pyongyang to reach the Russian border.
However, after they arrived in Russia, ministry officials greeted the group of diplomats and their families at a station. Later, the group traveled by bus to the Vladivostok airport.
Apart from the strict travel restrictions in North Korea, the troops have been deployed to border areas with orders to block any possible transmission of the Coronavirus. Even though North Korean officials denied the existence of COVID-19 in the country after the pandemic hit the world, many foreign diplomats have left the country and Western embassies have closed.
