According to the State owned media, Air Koryo will also re-open a route to Kuala Lumpur. The routes have been reported in the Chinese and Malaysian media, but have to be released by the airline.
Some have hailed the business Air Koryo is North Korea‘s only airline and was established in 1950. It has operated sporadic routes to a number of European and Asian countries over the last two decades. Air Koryo joined a list of airlines banned from EU airspace in 2006, but the ban was relaxed to allow two of its newer aircraft into Europe from March 2010.
Despite some talks of increasing tensions, politicians in South Korea have called the decision a move in the right direction. Already some media commentators within Korea have speculated that the decision for the air routes could be one of which may relax North Korea’s stringent military policy.
If North Korea‘s newest leader Kim Jung-Un continues his policies of engagement and a slow process of tension release, US officials say that talks between the two nations are more likely to succeed, a development which could lead to more industrialization within the crippled north.
(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com