Photo/Illutration A freight train crosses the China-North Korea Friendship Bridge from Dandong, China, headed toward Sinuiju, North Korea. (Kim Soonhi)

DANDONG, China--It has been nearly three years since North Korean workers found themselves suddenly trapped in China due to pandemic border restrictions, and they still have no idea when they can return home.

To make matters worse, the recent wave of infections in China has meant many are also now stuck waiting there without work as the virus spreads.

In December, Beijing lifted many of its zero-COVID-19 policy measures and allowed greater movement within and outside the nation. But Pyongyang remains extremely wary about allowing the virus to enter its borders, and the laborers who left for work in China have found themselves getting the short end of both countries’ policies.

According to several sources in China knowledgeable about what is occurring in North Korea, the surge in new COVID-19 cases in China that arose in the wake of the weakening of infection-prevention measures is hitting the North Korean laborers.

Several factories in northeastern China where many North Koreans work have had to stop operations because of infection clusters.

Some with pre-existing medical conditions died after becoming infected with the coronavirus. But because travel between China and North Korea is still restricted, the funeral of a North Korean trader who died in China was held by his friends instead of family back in North Korea.

One North Korean worker in her 20s here desperately seeking information about when travel between the two nations will resume said she is eager to return.

“I want to go home as soon as I can to see my mother,” she said.

Dandong in Liaoning province lies across the Amnok river from Sinuiju, North Korea, making it a major trade and travel point.

North Korea sealed off its border with China in late January 2020 when COVID-19 cases began spreading in China.

Workers and traders from North Korea who went to China to earn foreign currency suddenly discovered they could no longer return to their homes.

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution in December 2019 that included economic sanctions asking that North Korean workers abroad be sent home. The aim of the sanction was to cut off funds used by North Korea to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

But Pyongyang’s decision to close the border with China meant North Korean workers have been unable to return home even after preparing to do so because of the sanction.

There are also North Koreans without a work visa, but who are working in China and cannot return home as well.

Even before the border closed, some North Korean workers in China had been unable to return home, meaning some have been there for as long as five years.

And it is exacting a psychological toll on them.

According to a source at a factory in northwestern China, many workers complained of health problems last year, such as headaches or stomachaches. But doctors who examined them at a hospital could not find anything wrong.

“Stress probably accumulated because they could not go home,” the source surmised.

Other workers complained of not being able to sleep due to psychological problems.

Some North Koreans are keeping records of their time here for their loved ones.

A woman in her 20s who works at a restaurant in northwestern China wrote a letter to her mother, but never mailed it because she had no idea if it would be delivered.

“I wanted to record my feelings about how much I wanted to see my mother and show it to her when I did return home,” she said.

Chinese and North Korean officials are discussing when the workers can return home.

According to trade sources, several customs offices in Dandong and other cities in northwestern China have begun preparing to resume railway traffic between the two nations.

Several traders said they heard rumors that the movement of people would resume either in April or May.

But sources knowledgeable about North Korean matters said authorities there have instructed residents to avoid the border with China because of strong concerns the coronavirus could enter the nation due to the lifting of restrictions in China.

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