More than 300 North Koreans reportedly returned home from a Chinese border city on Monday.

According to unidentified sources, 300 to 400 North Koreans left Dandong in northeastern China for the North's city of Sinuiju across the border on Monday on some ten buses that began making several trips in the morning.

It marked the first time for North Koreans to return home by road transportation since the North closed its border with China in January 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the sources said that about 100 North Koreans are likely to return from Dandong on Tuesday, with about one-thousand in total by the end of this week.

Another source said that the North Koreans returning home this week include students, government officials and trade workers and patients who gathered in Dandong about a week earlier to return home.

The returning North Koreans will reportedly quarantine for a week in Sinuiju before heading to Pyongyang.

[Photo : YONHAP News]