Russian Diplomats Use Hand-Pushed Trolley to Exit North Korea

A group of Russian diplomats had to leave North Korea on a hand-made and hand-pushed trolley, so they could return to their home country, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Facebook. Officially, North Korea is not among the many countries affected by the ongoing, international health crisis. Unofficially, medical experts have reasons to doubt the official stance.

For months, all type of passenger transport to and from the country has been blocked, and that includes railways and international flights. This meant that the Russian Embassy’s third secretary Vladislav Sorokin and his family were left with few to no option of getting back home.

So a solution was improvised: the group of eight, which also included kids as young as 3, traveled by train and by bus across North Korea for 34 hours on end, and then made the final stretch of the journey on a hand-pushed trolley.

Photos of that last stretch were uploaded to the Ministry’s Facebook page, and a video was also made public. (Editor's note: for whatever reason, only six people are shown in the state-sanctioned materials.) The trolley was used for about 1 km (0.6 miles), to get the group across the border. Though the journey took place in winter conditions and came at the end of a very exhausting experience, they still managed to break into laughter at the end.

While the adults pushed the cart, which was loaded with luggage and other personal belongings, the kids at least got to take in the view on a plush bench. Improvisation at its best.

Once the trolley crossed the Tumen River into Russia, the group was welcomed by Russian officials and ferried by bus to Vladivostok airport.