Update at Dec. 23 9:30 KST: This article has been updated to note that that the plane can be seen at Wonsan Airport for that day, per satellite imagery from Planet Labs.

Update at 15:40 KST: This article has been updated to include that the P-671 re-appeared on ADS-B around 14:35pm local time in a rare round-trip sighting, traveling west to east. It appears to be on a return journey to Pyongyang, although flight data listed no departure nor arrival airport.

For the first time in six months, an Air Koryo flight appeared to depart from Pyongyang and was detected on Dec. 22, marking one of the country’s few domestic flights since the country closed its airspace to quell the COVID-19 pandemic in January.

The flight, labeled JS671, was last seen in June 2020 and also appeared to depart from Pyongyang. The latest Dec. 2020 flight lists a departing airport of Pyongyang and appears to be heading towards the DPRK’s east coast, according to ADS-B data from provider FlightRadar24. However, neither of the flights explicitly showed an arrival airport.

The plane — one of Air Koryo’s compact Antonov An-148 passenger jets — was also spotted making a flight that appeared to be leaving Pyongyang on April 23, 2019, meaning that it rarely appears on ADS-B data.

The JS671’s flight time appears to be less than 30 minutes, which aligns with comparable South Korean flight times, where flights from Seoul heading eastward hit the east coast within 20 minutes.

The timing of the flight coincides with DPRK Premiere Kim Tok Hun’s recent inspection of the Mount Kumgang tourist area, which lies on the southeast border separating North and South Korea. In state media coverage, Kim was shown with a map that appeared to be annotated with future tourist developments.

The Wonsan-Kalma tourist area, where the plane appears to be heading, has also shown continued development and shared the state media’s spotlight throughout the pandemic period, despite the low likelihood of tourists in the near future. Satellite imagery shows additions to its airport as recently as Nov. 2020.

As part of quarantine measures, North Korea has been closed to international flights since Feb. 1, with a roundtrip flight to Vladivostok for foreign diplomats on March 9 as the only exception.

Edited by Kelly Kasulis