North Korea has cleared an apparent COVID-19-related quarantine area at the Pyongyang International Airport runway, less than two months after it filled up with an emergency shipment of “medicines” from China, according to satellite imagery.

The move suggests items shipped in from China and apparently quarantined at the airport were of a higher priority than items undergoing a longer quarantine period of around three months near the Chinese border.

It also calls into question possible inconsistencies in or changes to the DPRK’s COVID-19 policies. North Korean authorities maintain the virus can survive attached