North Korean fishing activities in the East Sea may be returning to some form of normalcy, as satellite imagery suggests more vessels are leaving a major port on the East Coast to head out to sea.

The development comes after a port at Chongjin appeared tightly packed with fleets of small-sized fishing vessels until early this year, amid reports that the country’s stringent COVID-19 quarantine rules were limiting commercial fishing.

A three-year comparison of satellite imagery of a port in Chongjin — one of North Korea’s major fishing centers — suggests that the number of