North Korea is beginning to reopen after Covid, though a one-week quarantine will still be required.

North Korea has announced that it will allow its citizens living overseas to return home, easing its pandemic-era border restrictions. However, they will still need to undergo a one-week quarantine.

The country has decided to 'adjust its anti-epidemic measures in response to the improved global pandemic situation,' according to the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters.

This announcement, reported by state-run KCNA on Sunday, comes several months after most other Asian nations had already lifted their last remaining Covid-related restrictions.

China, which had maintained one of the strictest Covid policies in the region, abandoned its zero-tolerance strategy in December 2022.

Recent actions by North Korea, which closed its borders in early 2020 due to the pandemic, suggest that the country is reopening. However, Pyongyang will still require even its returning citizens to quarantine upon arrival.

The announcement stated, 'Those who return will be placed under strict medical observation at quarantine facilities for a week.'

This news comes after the first known international commercial flight from Pyongyang to Beijing on Tuesday, marking the first such flight since January 2020.

Flights between North Korea and Russia are also set to resume, with four flights scheduled between Pyongyang and Vladivostok this month.

In another sign of reopening, about 100 North Korean Taekwondo athletes arrived in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, to compete in the 22nd International Taekwon-Do Federation World Championship, believed to be the first overseas trip by a North Korean sports team since 2020.