Air corridor opens: Russia starts direct flights from Moscow to North Korea's Pyongyang; ties take off with monthly operations confirmed
Russia has started direct commercial flights between Moscow and Pyongyang, marking a significant expansion in its relations with North Korea.
The first flight, operated by Nordwind Airlines, departed from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport at 16:25 GMT on Sunday and is expected to reach the North Korean capital in around eight hours, reported news agency AFP.
"This is a historical event, strengthening the ties between our nations," said a Nordwind staffer involved in the operation, although he declined to reveal the number of passengers aboard. The route will initially operate once a month, according to Russia's transport ministry.
Tickets were priced at 45,000 rubles, or around $570.
'For the first time in more than 70 years of diplomatic relations, we are launching direct flights between the capitals of our countries,' Russia's deputy transport minister, Vladimir Poteshkin, was quoted as saying on the ministry's Telegram channel, according to AFP.
Russia's state-run TASS agency reported that the first return flight from Pyongyang to Moscow is scheduled for Tuesday. These flights are part of a broader pattern of increasing engagement between the two countries.
As per news agency AP, over 400 passengers were aboard the inaugural flight. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who recently visited North Korea's Wonsan-Kalma coastal resort, has promised to promote tourism between the two countries.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Installing Solar Panels in Albania Might Be Cheaper Then You Think
Solar Panels | Search Ads
Get Info
Undo
The newly developed beach resort is central to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's strategy to revive the country's economy through tourism.
North Korea, which had sealed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, has gradually resumed travel links. Train services between the two countries resumed on June 17, and air travel between Pyongyang and Russia's Vladivostok had already restarted in 2023.
The resumption of direct flights comes amid deepening military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
North Korea has supplied weapons and troops to support Russia's operations in Ukraine, according to AP.
In 2024, North Korea confirmed it had deployed its soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces. The two nations also signed a mutual defence pact during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Pyongyang last year.
The renewed air link, symbolic of their strengthening alliance, signals not only increasing military coordination but also a push for broader economic and tourism ties between the heavily sanctioned nations.
Stay informed with the latest
business
news, updates on
bank holidays
and
public holidays
.
AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
12 minutes ago
- The Hindu
U.S.-EU trade deal wards off further escalation but will raise costs for companies, consumers
President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have announced a sweeping trade deal that imposes 15% tariffs on most European goods, warding off Mr. Trump's threat of a 30% rate if no deal had been reached by August 1. The tariffs, or import taxes, paid when Americans buy European products could raise prices for U.S. consumers and dent profits for European companies and their partners who bring goods into the country. Here are some things to know about the trade deal between the United States and the European Union: What's in the agreement? Mr. Trump and Ms. von der Leyen's announcement, made during Mr. Trump's visit to one of his golf courses in Scotland, leaves many details to be filled in. The headline figure is a 15% tariff rate on 'the vast majority' of European goods brought into the US, including cars, computer chips and pharmaceuticals. It's lower than the 20% Mr. Trump initially proposed, and lower than his threats of 50% and then 30%. Ms. von der Leyen said the two sides agreed on zero tariffs on a range of 'strategic' goods: Aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, semiconductor equipment, certain agricultural products, and some natural resources and critical raw materials. Specifics were lacking. She said the two sides 'would keep working' to add more products to the list. Additionally, the EU side would purchase what Mr. Trump said was $750 billion worth of natural gas, oil and nuclear fuel to replace Russian energy supplies, and Europeans would invest an additional $600 billion in the U.S.. What's not in the deal? Mr. Trump said the 50% U.S. tariff on imported steel would remain; Ms. von der Leyen said the two sides agreed to further negotiations to fight a global steel glut, reduce tariffs and establish import quotas — that is, set amounts that can be imported, often at a lower rate. Mr. Trump said pharmaceuticals were not included in the deal. Ms. von der Leyen said the pharmaceuticals issue was 'on a separate sheet of paper' from Sunday's (July 27, 2025) deal. Where the $600 billion for additional investment would come from was not specified. And Ms. von der Leyen said that when it came to farm products, the EU side made clear that 'there were tariffs that could not be lowered,' without specifying which products. What's the impact? The 15% rate removes Mr. Trump's threat of a 30% tariff. It's still much higher than the average tariff before Mr. Trump came into office of around 1%, and higher than Mr. Trump's minimum 10% baseline tariff. Higher tariffs, or import taxes, on European goods mean sellers in the U.S. would have to either increase prices for consumers — risking loss of market share — or swallow the added cost in terms of lower profits. The higher tariffs are expected to hurt export earnings for European firms and slow the economy. The 10% baseline applied while the deal was negotiated was already sufficiently high to make the European Union's executive commission cut its growth forecast for this year from 1.3% to 0.9%. Ms. Von der Leyen said the 15% rate was 'the best we could do' and credited the deal with maintaining access to the US market and providing 'stability and predictability for companies on both sides.' What is some of the reaction to the deal? German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the deal, which avoided 'an unnecessary escalation in transatlantic trade relations" and said that 'we were able to preserve our core interests,' while adding that 'I would have very much wished for further relief in transatlantic trade.' The Federation of German Industries was blunter. "Even a 15% tariff rate will have immense negative effects on export-oriented German industry," said Wolfgang Niedermark, a member of the federation's leadership. While the rate is lower than threatened, "the big caveat to today's deal is that there is nothing on paper, yet," said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro at ING bank. 'With this disclaimer in mind and at face value, today's agreement would clearly bring an end to the uncertainty of recent months. An escalation of the US-EU trade tensions would have been a severe risk for the global economy," Mr. Brzeski said. 'This risk seems to have been avoided.' What about car companies? Asked if European carmakers could still sell cars at 15%, Ms. von der Leyen said the rate was much lower than the current 27.5%. That has been the rate under Mr. Trump's 25% tariff on cars from all countries, plus the preexisting U.S. car tariff of 2.5%. The impact is likely to be substantial on some companies, given that automaker Volkswagen said it suffered a $1.5 billion hit to profit in the first half of the year from the higher tariffs. Mercedes-Benz dealers in the US have said they are holding the line on 2025 model year prices 'until further notice.' The German automaker has a partial tariff shield because it makes 35% of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold in the U.S. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but the company said it expects prices to undergo 'significant increases' in coming years. What were the issues dividing the two sides? Before Mr. Trump returned to office, the U.S. and the EU maintained generally low tariff levels in what is the largest bilateral trading relationship in the world, with some USD 2 trillion in annual trade. Together, the U.S. and the EU have 44% of the global economy. The U.S. rate averaged 1.47% for European goods, while the EU's averaged 1.35% for American products, according to the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. Mr. Trump has complained about the EU's 198 billion-euro trade surplus in goods, which shows Americans buy more from European businesses than the other way around, and has said the European market is not open enough for U.S.-made cars. However, American companies fill some of the trade gap by outselling the EU when it comes to services such as cloud computing, travel bookings, and legal and financial services. And some 30% of European imports are from American-owned companies, according to the European Central Bank.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
12 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Kim Jong Un's sister rejects appeasement overture by S Korea's new prez
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed an appeasement overture by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that North Korea has no interests in talks with South Korea no matter what proposal its rival offers. Kim Yo Jong's comments suggest again that North Korea, now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia, has no intentions of returning to diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime soon. But experts said North Korea could change its course if it thinks it cannot maintain the same booming ties with Russia when the Russia-Ukraine war nears an end. We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed with South Korea, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. It's North Korea's first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June. In an effort to improve badly frayed ties with North Korea, Lee's government has halted anti-Pyongyang frontline loudspeaker broadcasts, taken steps to ban activists from flying balloons with propaganda leaflets across the border and repatriated North Koreans who were drifted south in wooden boats months earlier. Kim Yo Jong called such steps sincere efforts by Lee's government to develop ties. But she said the Lee government won't be much different from its predecessors, citing what it calls their blind trust to the military alliance with the U.S. and attempt to stand in confrontation with North Korea. She mentioned the upcoming summertime South Korea-U.S. military drills, which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea has been shunning talks with South Korea and the U.S. since leader Kim Jong Un's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions. North Korea has since focused on building more powerful nuclear weapons targeting its rivals. North Korea now prioritizes cooperation with Russia by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine, likely in return for economic and military assistance. South Korea, the U.S. and others say Russia may even give North Korea sensitive technologies that can enhance its nuclear and missile programs. Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly boasted of his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and expressed intent to resume diplomacy with him. But North Korea hasn't publicly responded to Trump's overture. In early 2024, Kim Jong Un ordered the rewriting of the constitution to remove the long-running state goal of a peaceful Korean unification and cement South Korea as an invariable principal enemy. That caught many foreign experts by surprise because it was seen as eliminating the idea of shared statehood between the war-divided Koreas and breaking away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of peacefully achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms. Many experts say Kim likely aims to guard against South Korean cultural influence and bolster his family's dynastic rule. Others say Kim wants legal room to use his nuclear weapons against South Korea by making it as a foreign enemy state, not a partner for potential unification which shares a sense of national homogeneity. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mint
12 minutes ago
- Mint
Banks boost Aussie shares higher; investors brace for corporate earnings
July 28 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Monday, led by gains in financial stocks, while investors braced for the start of the local corporate earnings season this week. The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.4% to 8,703.7 points by 0049 GMT, putting it less than 100 points below the lifetime high of 8,776.4 hit in mid June. The benchmark had dipped 0.5% on Friday. The earnings season begins this week, with mining major Rio Tinto set to lead the way when it reports its half-year results on July 30. Meanwhile, investors are awaiting the local inflation print, also due on Wednesday, for clues on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) path for interest rate cuts. On the local bourse, financials rose 0.5%, with the country's "Big Four" banks gaining between 0.2% and 0.7%. Technology stocks added 0.8%, tracking advances in Wall Street futures after the United States struck a trade deal with the European Union. Gold stocks climbed 1.2%, supported by a 4.7% rise in Bellevue Gold after its strong quarterly production update. Healthcare stocks grew 1.3%, while real estate stocks rose 0.8%, broadly in line with the benchmark. Miners lost 0.4% as iron ore prices fell. Energy stocks shed 0.5%, dragged down by uranium miner Boss Energy, which plummeted as much as 40.3% after warning of higher costs for its Honeymoon project in FY26 due to a decline in average tenor. Among individual stocks, logistics software maker WiseTech Global rose as much as 0.6% after naming chief of staff Zubin Appoo as its permanent chief executive, succeeding billionaire co-founder Richard White. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index added 0.6% to 12,928.96 points. (Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
