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By Kim Soo-yeon
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- A passenger train service linking the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and Moscow will resume its operation next week after years of suspension over the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's state-run railway operator has said.
A railway service directly connecting the capitals of North Korea and Russia will start its operation June 17 under an agreement with North Korea's railway authorities, the Russian Railways said on its Telegram account Monday.
The resumption came as Russia's passenger rail services connecting to North Korea were suspended in February 2020 over COVID-19.
The Moscow-Pyongyang train service will be in operation twice per month on the route spanning more than 10,000 kilometers, and the travel will take eight days.
The Russian railway operator called it "the longest direct railway route in the world."
A train bound for Moscow will depart from Pyongyang on the 3rd and 17th of every month, while a service heading to Pyongyang will leave from Moscow on the 12th and 26th of each month.
The train will stop at stations in Russian cities, including Khasan, Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk and Kostroma.
Another train service linking Pyongyang and Russia's Khabarovsk, a city near Russia's border with North Korea, will also start its once-per-month operation June 19.
The move came as North Korea and Russia have been bolstering their cooperation in various fields, including the military and economy, since the signing of a mutual defense treaty in June last year.
Late last year, passenger rail services resumed linking the North's Tumen River Station and Russia's Khasan Station in the border area.
In May, the two nations launched the construction of a road bridge across the Tumen River amid deepening bilateral ties, a project expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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