Amid rising tensions with China and closer ties to Russia, North Korea is cutting flights to China and adding more to Russia.
According to Voice of America on September 18, North Korea’s Air Koryo has significantly increased flights to Vladivostok, Russia, now operating up to three flights a day, marking a sharp contrast with the recent reduction of flights to Beijing.
On September 13, Air Koryo dispatched three flights to Vladivostok. According to flight tracking service Flightradar24, in addition to the regular JS271 flight, temporary flights JS371 and JS471 were also deployed on the Vladivostok route.
Currently, North Korea operates regular flights to Vladivostok on Mondays and Fridays, departing Pyongyang at 9:10 a.m. However, on this occasion, the airline added two more flights, JS371 and JS471, increasing the number of flights for the day. It is common practice for Air Koryo to assign temporary flight numbers that differ only slightly from the regular flight numbers.
Flight JS271, the regular service, departed Pyongyang at 9:10 a.m. and arrived in Vladivostok at 11:40 a.m. local time. The return flight, JS272, took off at 1:30 p.m. and landed in Pyongyang at 2:10 p.m. North Korea and Vladivostok operate on a one-hour time difference.
The temporary JS371 flight arrived in Vladivostok at 12:05 p.m., changed its flight number to JS372, and departed for Pyongyang at 3:21 p.m. Another temporary flight, JS471, landed in Vladivostok at 10:08 a.m., earlier than the other flights, and returned to Pyongyang at noon.
On Monday, September 16, North Korea continued operating additional flights to Vladivostok, deploying both the regular JS271 flight and the temporary JS471 flight. Media reports indicated that North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui was aboard the regular flight, en route to Vladivostok to attend the Eurasian Women’s Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In total, Air Koryo operated five flights between Pyongyang and Vladivostok on Friday and Monday. Combined with previous temporary flights on September 2 and 9, this highlights the increased activity on the route between North Korea and Russia. Analysts interpret this as a sign of deepening cooperation between the two countries, extending beyond military ties to include political and economic collaboration.
In contrast, flights to China have been reduced. VOA previously reported that Air Koryo suspended its JS251 and JS252 flights, which operated between Pyongyang and Beijing on Thursdays. As a result, the airline now only operates JS151 flights to Beijing on Tuesdays and Saturdays, reducing service from three flights per week to two.
With these changes, Vladivostok has now become the most frequent destination for Air Koryo, surpassing Beijing. Recent reports have suggested that relations between North Korea and China may be strained, citing a decline in trade and the absence of the Chinese ambassador at North Korea’s Victory Day celebrations. The reduction in flights between the two countries adds weight to these observations.
BY YOUNGNAM KIM [kim.youngnam@koreadaily.com]
