North Korea: Taekwondo athletes believed headed to Kazakhstan

A group of people, thought to be North Korean Taekwondo athletes, have crossed the border into China.

They are said to be heading to the Taekwondo world championships in neighbouring Kazakhstan.

It marks the first time that Pyongyang has sent a sports team overseas since its Covid border closure in 2020.

Sources say they will travel on to Beijing before heading to the Kazakh capital Astana.

Two green buses have been spotted crossing the Yalu River that divides North Korea and China. They arrived in the Chinese city of Dandong, where dozens of people then disembarked.

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Pyongyang sealed off its borders, with no one allowed to leave or enter the country since.

These are the first known athletes to be sent overseas, which indicates that Pyongyang may be finally relaxing its border restrictions.

Recent reports also suggest that the government is preparing to allow its own citizens to re-enter the country soon. North Korean labourers, who number in the tens of thousands, are still in China and Russia.

Last month, Russian and Chinese delegations were in Pyongyang to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.

They were the first known foreign groups to be invited to the country since borders closed three years ago.