Russia Says Diplomats Used Hand-Powered Railroad Car to Leave North Korea

Several employees of the Russian Embassy in North Korea along with their families left the country on a hand-pushed rail trolley to return home to Russia on February 25, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 due to China’s Covid-19 outbreak.

The group had taken an unusual route that included, “at first, 32 hours by train, then another two hours by bus to the border and, finally, the most important part of the route – walking on foot to the Russian side,” the ministry said.

The group included the embassy’s third secretary, Vladislav Sorokin, and his 3-year-old daughter, the ministry said.

Video shared by the ministry shows the group pushing the hand-pushed rail trolley over the railway bridge over the Tumannaya River that marks the border with North Korea. Credit: Russian Foreign Ministry via Storyful