BEIJING/SEOUL, Aug 22 (Reuters) - An Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang landed in Beijing early on Tuesday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began in 2020, as North Korea cracks open its border to some passenger travel. Cargo train and ship traffic has slowly increased over the past year, but North Korea has only just begun to allow some international passenger travel. Since the end of 2019, U.N. Security Council resolutions have required that all countries deport North Korean workers. The current Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, had to wait 15 months after being named for the job before he could enter the country this March to take up his role. The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that Beijing had approved North Korea's state carrier Air Koryo resuming flights to China.

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Persons: lockdowns, Koryo, Simon Cockerell, Kim Jong, Wang Yajun, Sophie Yu, Brenda Goh, Laurie Chen, Tian, Josh Smith, Jacqueline Wong, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: North, Association of Asian Studies, Air Koryo, Civil Aviation Administration, China, Air China, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, SEOUL, Pyongyang, Beijing, North Korea, China, Russian, Kazakhstan, Vladivostok, Russia, U.N, Korea's, Koryo, Seoul