A plane registered with North Korea's state-owned flag carrier Air Koryo landed at China's Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday morning for the first time in over three and a half years since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020.

The passenger flight, which departed from Pyongyang's Sunan International Airport, landed at the Beijing airport at around 9:20 a.m., local time, about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

An electronic flight schedule board at the airport showed that a presumed return flight was set to depart for Pyongyang at 1:05 p.m.

While the passenger list has yet to be verified, registration for airport parking by a vehicle from the North Korean Embassy in Beijing suggests that a high-level official from Pyongyang has either arrived in Beijing or an embassy official was set to return.